Final Fantasy VII: Strife and Sorrow
by Sam Spam III
Summary: Cloud is doing his usual delivery service work when he is warned about a certain package. After having Materia stolen from him, and being faced with a vicious mastermind, he has no choice but to team up and stop them from carrying out their evil plans.
1. Prologue

Final Fantasy VII Story

_For the people who I call my 'friends' and for those that always give me a smile who I shall never forget._

Rain pattered upon the roof of the vehicle, creating a negative atmosphere inside. The passengers were gathered around in rows, perching on the wooden benches at either end. These passengers were travelling towards Midgar.  
Most of the passengers weren't exactly dressed for the road, but had their minds focused on something to get them through the journey.  
The vehicle was at a constant speed and didn't seem to be getting any slower; or faster for that matter. One middle-aged lady had closed her eyes and was in the foetal position. Clearly she didn't agree on the speed the vehicle was going. The roads were saturated and every turn the vehicle made, she gave a cry of shock as her body jerked suddenly.  
One man, sat right in the corner on his own, lightly, but also silently, laughed. The fact that some of the passengers were fearful for their own safety because of the weather amused him.  
This vehicle was sturdy; sturdy enough that it would hold through any weather. Most people knew this, of course, but obviously she did not. A sudden jerk of the vehicle sent the tyres screeching in disapproval.  
The woman opposite the amused man jerked in her seat, but was quite secure, thanks to the mass of people around her. This journey to Midgar was going to be a long one, following a road with several-dozen jerks.  
As the man silently chuckled at her once more, the woman looked up in alarm. She looked directly at him, only then did he stop.  
"Are you laughing at me?" there was no need to be polite if this was the case. The man stared at the woman with his light-blue eyes, mesmerising her, instantly.  
"I thought you knew about these vehicles, being your age." His voice was deep as an average man's, and went well with his figure. The woman's cheeks turned scarlet.  
"What's so good about them?"  
"It's quite funny how you're jerking like that." He said. The rest of the passengers remained silent.  
"Excuse me, I have asked you a simple question." She said.  
"Yes, you have." Cloud replied.  
"Then can you please answer it?"  
"That's another question." The woman was being wound up and she knew it. She muttered a curse under her breath and returned to her previous position.  
The man chuckled at this, his spiky, blonde hair gently moving with the motion from his body. What was a long journey without a little fun? Thinking so much through for so long had been quite a task for him.  
Now it was all back to normal, he didn't quite want to think long and hard about so much, again. Before this long journey, he had visited past places and vanquished certain enemies. People were saved and were very grateful. They all wanted to repay him, somehow, but he had refused all their offers. Instead, he asked if someone could take him back to Midgar to save himself a tedious journey.  
Everyone agreed instantly and led him towards this vehicle which other people were also boarding. They had been travelling for such a long time now, that he had thought they would, at least, stop and have a rest somewhere, but the vehicle was showing no signs of slowing down. Sighing deeply, the man shifted on the bench as his rear began to ache.  
This was going to be a very long journey, and by the looks of it, one without rests.


	2. Chapter 1

It had been some time inside the vehicle when Cloud had began to sleep. He drifted off into thoughts of friends and happiness, but it wasn't long before his bad memories began to show.  
_A great, big, silhouette of a figure zoomed up to him: Sephiroth. _  
Cloud struggled from the bonds of sleep with all his might. Seeing his past in front of him was something he couldn't stand. Sephiroth was an unholy beast. He was still a man, but a beast nonetheless. Sephiroth started off in Shinra Inc. where he was the best first-class SOLDIER. When he had found out how SOLDIERs were created, he started to hate Shinra, and in time, he began to hate everything else – Shinra, and those against them. Cloud had recently stopped Sephiroth in an epic battle after Yazoo, Loz and Kadaj, Sephiroth clones, vowed to find their 'Mother,' who actually was Jenova. Kadaj took his 'Mother' and re-created Sephiroth, who Cloud had to defeat.  
Sephiroth was one thing Cloud didn't want to battle again. When they were both in SOLDIER, Cloud had looked up to Sephiroth. He wanted to be just like him – the very best, until Sephiroth desired the end of the world.  
A shiver worked its way down Cloud's spine. He woke with a huge breath that cleared his head. The other passengers aboard stared at him, in fascination. Cloud was used to this. He didn't very much like the attention, so he kept quiet most of the time.  
The woman opposite him was no longer clenching herself in fear. She had managed to realise the vehicle was quite safe, as the roads had dried up, because of the sudden change in weather. She looked across at Cloud.  
"Are you okay?" Cloud didn't answer; he just looked at the floor in silence.  
"I am sorry for before. I didn't mean to annoy you, or anything." Again, Cloud didn't respond, but the woman didn't give up.  
"I'm Marae. I can't thank you enough for saving my town -" she was interrupted by the sound of a mobile. The call tone was getting louder and louder as it wasn't answered. Cloud dug his hand into his pocket and retrieved it.  
"Cloud speaking." A soft, female voice replied on the other end of the line. To the other passengers, the voice was barely loud enough to be heard.  
"I'm on my way, now . . . I'm with other passengers heading for Midgar . . . No, I saved their town . . . It was no hassle . . . We should be back in around an hour, if I'm right . . . Yeah, I'll keep that in mind. See you then." He closed his phone, ending the conversation, and placed it back in his pocket.  
"As I was saying -" again, Marae was cut off, but by Cloud.  
"Save your thanks. It was no big deal." Marae closed her mouth and shrank back to her seat.  
"You really think we'll be that long?" an elderly man had spoken up from the other end of the vehicle. Cloud didn't respond. The other passengers held the silence from then on.

"Where's Cloud?" Denzel annoyingly asked for the fourth time. Despite being an orphan, he wore simple clothes that were neither rugged, nor fancy. His figure was suitable for a child his age, but his charm came mostly from his face. His light brown, tufted hair was covering both ears, and his light blue eyes contained desire. Tifa smiled, but answered in the same manner as before.  
"He's on his way back." Denzel didn't acknowledge this, but ran off, up the stairs. Tifa was a very loyal woman to Cloud. She had long, dark hair that ran the length of her back.  
Her figure was very well for a woman in her twenties because Tifa favoured physical attacks, which kept her in a fit state.  
Both Cloud and Tifa had been childhood friends since as long as they could remember. Their bond of friendship had increased ever since Cloud had moved into SOLDIER and they made a promise that if ever Tifa was in a bind, and she needed help, Cloud would come and rescue her. That promise had been fulfilled as a journey through Nibelheim Mountains, accompanied by Sephiroth, Zack and Cloud, had moved Sephiroth to turn against Shinra.  
Sephiroth killed so many people, including Tifa's father, who, by chance, was also on the expedition. Tifa vowed to take revenge on Sephiroth, but instead, she only received a sword-slice right down her front. Cloud entered the room after this point and moved Tifa out of the way of danger. Her wound looked fatal, but gladly, it wasn't. Zack had also been fatally injured by Sephiroth, but he had enough energy to tell Cloud to kill Sephiroth.  
Cloud ran the length of the stairs, took Zack's long, thick, Buster Sword and thrust it through Sephiroth, who then laughed as Cloud retracted the blade. Sephiroth then stabbed his own sword, a Marsamane, right through Cloud. And to both of their amazement, Cloud grabbed Sephiroth's sword and heaved him up, over his head, and threw him over the edge of the Mako reactor, ending his reign of terror.  
As the years went past, Cloud and Tifa always remained very good friends. This time, like most other times, Tifa was waiting for Cloud to return.  
The bar they ran - Seventh Heaven – (so named because it was in the Sector Seven Slums) hadn't been that popular today. Maybe the regular customers were doing something different or more valued for their time. Whatever the case, little money had been raised today.  
_This isn't going to go well with the_ _bills_ Tifa thought. She walked over to the only table that had been used and picked up two glasses. She sighed, and then silently walked back to the actual bar.  
This room was the biggest in their little home, but space was used by customers. She turned the tap on and washed the two used mugs. She then leaned over and grabbed a tea towel to dry her hands.  
"Tifa! Tifa!" she looked up. Instead of Denzel, Marlene had called. Marlene was Barret's adopted daughter. She was a little younger than Denzel, but looked similar to Aerith, in a way. She always wore a cute skirt and a woollen jumper, finished off with a matching bow tied into her plait. Her face was small and sweet for a child so young. Her eyes were green and she always looked very pretty.  
"Yes, Marlene?" Tifa asked as she replaced the towel.  
"Where's Cloud?" Tifa sighed; this was going to continue for a long time.  
"He's on his way back." Marlene didn't run off like Denzel, but stayed behind. Tifa looked around the room until her gaze fixed on Marlene.  
"Yes?" Marlene blushed slightly.  
"Can we bake some cookies?" Tifa smiled. Maybe she wanted to make some cookies for when Cloud returned. _How sweet_ she thought. Marlene had always been caring, especially to people she loved. _We can make more money for the bills tomorrow._ Keeping the orphans happy and fed was also a priority, but which was more important – the bills or them?  
"Sure. Let's go make some cookies." Marlene's cheeks curved into a large smile.  
"Denzel! Denzel! We're making cookies!" she jumped around, happily, while shouting for him. Tifa grinned and walked over to the counters.  
_This should keep them entertained for a while._ Baking was something which they all enjoyed and it brought them closer together. If only it was the same with Cloud. _Oh, Cloud. If only I could tell you,_ she thought.  
Tifa bent down and fumbled for the equipment. Marlene was beckoning Denzel to help, even when he descended the stairs.  
"Tifa?" he asked as she placed bowls, spoons, baking trays and various other objects neatly onto the counter.  
"Yes, Denzel?" he smiled, broadly.  
"Can we make them, just how Cloud likes them?" There was a hint of hesitation in his voice. Marlene jumped up and down and Denzel grinned, cutely. _How could I say "no" to that face?_  
"Just how Cloud likes them!" Tifa replied, enthusiastically, making the children cheer and laugh in happiness.

There was a smell of burnt fish as a figure walked into the room. He had used his key to open it, and now he did the same, but in reverse to lock it.  
"Mmm. That smells delightful!" he called over the sizzling in the kitchen. He couldn't keep the sarcasm out of his own voice – that was how he spoke most of the time. He stroked back his bright red hair and walked towards the kitchen, returning his keys to his pocket. He wore a suit, but it wasn't tidily kept. He didn't wear a tie and his white shirt wasn't tucked in. His bright red hair was tied back in a pony-tail with a piece of black cloth, and on his face, just under his eyes were marks of red crescents.  
The room was part of a rehabilitation centre, so it wasn't anything fancy. There was a cream carpet on the floor and the walls were covered in white wallpaper. This part of the room was empty, but it led on to a bigger room.  
Walking towards the window, the man sighed, only to find autumn finally taking its toll on things. The wind blew heavily and the trees bent with the strain.  
"Can you help me in here?" a deep voice called. The man by the window looked his way, and then stopped in the doorway. The kitchen was also basic. It contained a small fridge, a small cooking stove and a few counters.  
"How's it going Rude? Having any trouble?" Rude hastily ran about the kitchen, unable to think of anything right to do. By the looks of it, he was dancing around, in whatever little space was left, with a frying pan. Rude was a bald man who worked for Rufus Shinra of Shinra Inc. He always wore a suit and a pair of black glasses. Rude had a large frame, which was always handy with his line of work; being in the Turks and all (which actually didn't exist anymore – they were now hired as Rufus' body guards).  
"Rufus isn't going to be happy." He said, finally realising that he could put the pan into the sink. He looked up at the man in the doorway with an expression of uncertainty.  
"You can do something, Reno, can't you?" Reno sighed again. Rude was hopeless without him.

Cloud had sat in silence for a long time. He was thinking of Midgar, of Tifa, of the Shinra Inc., everything. He was beginning to realise that a lot had passed since his first adventure.  
The vehicle he was inside kept moving on, and on. The passengers hadn't complained, even though they still hadn't had a rest. Some had talked to each other briefly, while others didn't seem to notice anything; the passing of time, other people's insults, anything.  
A couple beside Cloud started chatting. They hadn't talked yet, and now they realised the vehicle wasn't slowing, for any reason, so they used the time to talk.  
"Dear? Do you know anything that we can talk about? I'm terribly bored." a woman said in a ridiculously high pitched voice.  
"It depends what you want to talk about, love." A male's voice responded.  
"Well . . . anything. This journey is taking a lifetime!"  
"Okay then, urm . . . chocobos are very expensive now."  
"'Chocobos are very expensive now.'? What the hell was that?"  
"Sorry, dear. You said talk about anything." A murmur of agreement spread over a few passengers.  
"That's not the point! I don't want to talk about great, big chickens! Talk about something more sophisticated." The woman had clearly lost her patience, along with everyone else in the vehicle.  
"I don't know why I married you."  
"What was that? Speak up, dear. I can't hear you."  
"I don't think sophistication is something I can do." The woman groaned.  
"Don't bother then. I'm not exactly important." Another murmur of agreement spread over more passengers.  
"Dear? They all just agreed to that!"  
"I know," He replied.  
"Aren't you going to do anything about it?"  
"No," he said. The woman was lost for words. She ended the conversation by folding her arms and facing the other way.  
_Too many people in one small vehicle is not a good idea_ Cloud thought to himself. Like other things, Cloud had listened constantly to other people's 'troubles,' worries and life stories. It really was boring; so boring that he had almost sighed in annoyance to them all.  
The vehicle worked its way down another road, but seemed to be slowing down. As one, the passengers looked at each other in hope. They thought they didn't need a stretch, but they were wrong. They tried to hide it with their silence and silly conversations, but it didn't work. What all the passengers truly felt was in this moment in time.  
Cloud didn't smile. His expression stayed the same. His thoughts were on the gradual slowing the vehicle was doing. Why was it slowing down? It had never slowed down before. Midgar shouldn't be that far away now. Obviously, something was wrong.  
Amidst the crown of chattering people, Cloud stood up as the vehicle stopped moving. He worked his way through the group and reached the door. Various voices turned their attention on him, and most faces were looking his way. Cloud didn't mind this. He was used to this kind of thing, after all.  
He placed a gloved hand on the handle and clicked it upwards, his arm muscles moving with the effort. With his strength, the door opened easily. Everyone retreated and placed a hand over their eyes as bright sunlight poured in the opening. The sun had dried up all of the wet weather and a cool wind drifted into their direction. The road behind them was vast and very long. At either side, fields of produce were being grown and every now and again, trees stood in pride, swaying in the breeze.  
The driver hadn't opened his door to come and see how they were, so something must be wrong. Cloud braced himself, then jumped down onto the road.  
"Where's he going?" one voice asked in amazement. No-one replied because they never knew with Cloud.  
He walked on with his Buster Sword ahead. Cloud had to be cautious, as he didn't know what lay ahead. If it was beasts, he could deal with it. If it was people, he could deal with it. If he couldn't deal with it, he would have to find a way.  
Walking, steadily, up to the driver's door, Cloud peered inside. The driver was one disgusting fellow. He was an unhygienic, greasy man, wearing overalls; but at least he was wearing something. Right now, he was happily reading a magazine, while eating an unappetizing sandwich. Cloud tapped on the window. Why didn't he tell the passengers to have a break? The nerve of some people!  
The driver startled as he heard the knocking and turned to find a big figure standing outside. Cloud signalled for him to open the window. As the driver did so, Cloud thought of all the possible things he could say to him.  
"What's going on?" was the first thing he could manage. The driver chewed his sandwich for some time, then swallowed.  
"I'm havin' a break."  
"Why didn't you tell us? We could be having a stretch by now." The driver had another bite and continued reading.  
"No-one's stoppin' yer." Cloud didn't reply because the stubbornness of the driver kept him away. He replaced his sword and walked back to the passengers.  
Cloud found that they were still chatting amongst themselves. He turned away and started stretching; readying himself for a walk.  
The passengers started to notice this and decided to follow suit. A long walk was just what they needed.

Back in the bar, things were going well. Marlene had managed to help Tifa make two-dozen cookies and Denzel watched, eagerly. When the cookies were finished, he would be the one to help Tifa ice them and put a few chocolate buttons on each.  
Tifa loved doing things like this with the kids. They enjoyed it, as much as she did. She loved to put smiled back onto their faces, and spending a whole day with them helped too.  
Tifa looked across at Marlene, who was watching the cookies bake in the oven. She looked happy, even though the cookies would take, at least, another twenty minutes to cook. Marlene watched the cookies as if she were guarding them. This made Tifa smile.  
Denzel was looking out the window, almost expecting Cloud to turn up any minute. This also made Tifa smile. It was sweet to think that these two orphans loved to see Cloud, and they would wait for him, even when he would be days or even weeks.  
The phone rang upstairs, making Marlene and Denzel turn to Tifa, who returned a smile. She walked her way to the stairs and started climbing them.  
"He's not here." She said to the phone, expecting it to be for Cloud. The phone continued ringing. Tifa walked up to the room where the phone lay and looked at the photo of Cloud, Denzel, Marlene and herself. She felt a pang of emotions, then picked up the phone and put it to her ear.  
"Strife delivery service, you name -" Tifa was cut off by a loud, booming voice on the other line.  
"Barret!" she said, overjoyed to hear a friend on the line. "Yes, we're all doing well! . . . That's great! . . . No, Cloud's not in yet . . . Of course you can speak to Marlene! I'll just fetch her for you." Tifa hastily walked down the stairs and called for Marlene. She looked up to find Tifa with the phone in her hand.  
"Marlene, it's your dad!" her expression changed instantly from happiness to extreme joy. She ran over to Tifa and took the phone, talking to her dad, happily.  
Denzel looked over at Tifa. He wanted to talk to someone, so she walked over to him.  
"How are you, Denzel?" she asked him. Denzel stared out the window, still waiting for Cloud.  
"I'm fine. Just waiting for Cloud." His voice wavered, almost like he was about to cry.  
"Are you alright, Denzel?" she asked, looking concerned. Denzel didn't say anything, but turned to hug Tifa, and started to cry. He didn't know his parents, and on rare occasions, like this one, he would cry about it. Even though they were both adopted, Marlene had Barret as a 'dad,' whereas Denzel had Cloud as a 'dad.' It hurt him so much that he couldn't talk to his parents. He could only talk to Cloud and Tifa about this sort of thing, because they understood. They understood what he had been through, how he felt and what he wanted to do about it.  
Tifa comforted Denzel in her arms and gently calmed him with her voice.  
"Hey . . . Hey. It's alright . . . I'm here. You don't need to worry." To Denzel, Tifa's voice sounded heavenly. A sound that stopped him wanting to break free and hit things, a voice that quietened him down.  
"Do you want to talk about it?" she asked. Denzel shook his head.  
"I'm fine, Tifa. Thanks." This was one part of her life that Tifa loved. She felt it satisfying that she could calm the kids and give them happy lives. Something she and Cloud shared.

"Come on, Reno! You've gotta do something!" Rude's voice was desperate. He couldn't serve a meal in what little time they had left until Rufus' dinner time; he couldn't even prepare himself to make anything. Reno looked at the floor.  
"I don't know." He said, a smile starting to form on his face.  
"RENO!" Rude said, annoyed this time. Reno smiled and looked up at his partner.  
"It would have to be a team effort." He said. Rude's expressions changed hastily. He wasn't too sure he could help, but equally, he didn't want to be told off by Rufus.  
"Okay. What do you want me to do?" he asked. Reno walked towards the middle of the kitchen and eyed a pan on his left.  
"What have we got?" he asked.


	3. Chapter 2

"It's kinda cold out here." A voice said behind Cloud as he continued his walk through the surrounding fields.  
"Well, keep moving. You'll warm yourself up that way." Someone replied to the first voice.  
The sun had now hidden behind a vast cloud that took up the sky. A wind had suddenly blown its way across the land to focus wholly on them. It brought a chill with it that stung improperly-dressed people.  
Cloud wasn't harmed by the cold's sharp sting because he was dressed for the road. After all his fighting and adventures he'd been through, he had decided to open up a delivery service with Tifa. Some people lived in remote areas that had such weather, so Cloud wore an outfit that covered him decently and prevented the weather from harming him.  
"How can you still be going on?" another random voice called in his direction.  
Cloud didn't look back, or even reply to them. If they couldn't keep up, they shouldn't have decided to follow him on this walk. Only a few people had managed to keep up with Cloud, and even they didn't talk to him. Two women were only keeping up to glance at his body at certain, muscled places, and two men were trying to outdo each other like naturally competitive boys.  
They continued through a grassy field, lined with a few trees and bushes. There were no animals in sight. Maybe they were shielding themselves from the weather, or maybe the animals around here were nocturnal. Cloud thought of all the possibilities. He searched the field for another direction to take, and saw a large tower in the distance. Beneath the tower, a fence lined a small field and in that field were chocobos. Beside the fence was a barn.  
Cloud wasn't at all surprised to see the chocobos out in this weather. They were, after all, like most, feathered birds. Even with giant feathers covering their body, they were surprisingly warm, unlike some people behind him.  
Before Cloud could even take a step towards it, his phone rang. He thought of whom it could be as more passengers realised he'd stopped and turned to look at him. Cloud picked up his phone and answered it.  
"Cloud speaking." It was the same soft female voice that answered before.  
"Tifa? . . . What's wrong with him? . . . I'll come as soon as I can . . . No, there's a chocobo farm up ahead . . . I'm getting one now . . . I should be twenty minutes, maybe more . . . See you then." He closed his phone and ended the conversation.  
A few people around him were questioning him now. They were surprised he was leaving and didn't want him to go.  
"Chocobos?"  
"What?"  
"What are you doing?"  
"You can't leave us!" the voices came from all around him, followed by more. Cloud turned to face them all.  
"Don't follow me. Go back to the vehicle." With that said, he started walking in the direction of the chocobo farm. The voices behind him stopped as they stared at him leave. When he had disappeared from sight, they suddenly realised where they were; they were in a field and they didn't know their way back.  
"I don't know about you lot, but I'm lost." One man said to the rest of the group. That was the start of a very long argument until, finally, they came to a decision; they were going to try and find the vehicle again.

* * *

Cloud had walked for a long time, through cold, wet grass, with the sting of the wind as his companion. The chocobo farm was getting bigger and bigger, and as he was so close, he started to realise more detail than before.  
The chocobos were quite big for their age, and their yellow colour was very bright. The tower was made from brick and a few people were dotted around, busying themselves from all the work.  
Cloud smiled to himself. He liked chocobos. They were such sweet creatures, regarding you treated them well. You could hire chocobos, or catch wild ones to ride, if you had the Chocobo Lure Materia at hand.  
The Chocobo Lure Materia would attract wild chocobos towards you. If you were in the right place, they would find you, and if you fed them gysahl greens, their favourite food, the chocobo would allow you to ride it.  
Cloud had ridden on many wild chocobos before. He had never actually hired one, so he decided to see if this chocobo farm would let him. For some reason, everyone hurrying around had disappeared.  
Finding his way to the front of the barn, Cloud peered inside. He looked for someone to talk to about the chocobos, but couldn't see anyone. Why would they do that? How could they do that? Cloud thought of all the possibilities, weighing each of them out.  
After several moments worth of thought, he decided to search the barn. A cold silence hung over him as he entered. There were twenty or so stables on either side of the barn, making forty in all, all of which were empty.  
"Hello?" Cloud called, losing his patience slowly. No-one answered, which made him feel suddenly sad. How would he be able to get home when he couldn't even hire a chocobo? He couldn't walk there; that would take too long. He couldn't go back to the vehicle; that was probably on the move now. He certainly couldn't fly there; he wasn't a bird.  
Cloud gave the barn one last look, then managed to notice an arm poking out from the corner of a stable. If they were hiding from him, why weren't they hiding well? Cloud walked over and picked up the arm of a young boy and pulled him to his feet.  
The little boy was terrified, and started to cry. Cloud put him down, but stood watch over him. He didn't know what was going on, but he didn't like it.  
"Hey! Get your hands off my kid!" Cloud swivelled to his right to see a middle-aged woman walk towards him in an angry manner. She was wearing knitted clothes, made to keep her warm in the current weather.  
"What do you think you're doing?" she was clearly annoyed at this, but Cloud was in a hurry.  
"Can I hire a chocobo?" the woman wasn't listening. She walked past Cloud and picked up her child. The boy put his head to her shoulder and continued to cry.  
"Can I hire a chocobo?" Cloud repeated himself, losing more of his patience. The woman comforted the boy, then addressed Cloud.  
"Do you realise what's going on here?" Cloud didn't respond, but kept quiet. "Everyone is hiding from the beast." Cloud looked up at her, curious. "The beast that eats anything at will. That's why we've left the chocobos out there. We'd rather it eat them than us!"  
Cloud wished to shout at the woman for doing such a thing, but he wasn't like that. He reached into his pocket and retrieved some Gil – their currency. Counting through it with his fingers, Cloud faced the woman again who was staring intently.  
"Will three-hundred Gil be enough?" the woman's eyes bulged.  
"That's three-times the normal value!" Cloud didn't respond to this, but placed the three-hundred Gil into the woman's hand, who was lost for words. That done, he turned and walked out of the stable, greeted by a cold wind.  
Cloud continued up the path to where the chocobos were. He jumped the fence and chose the closest chocobo in sight. If there was a beast, he could deal with it. It should be no problem. Cloud would get rid of it quite easily.  
As Cloud stroked the chocobo to gain its trust, the woman came running out of the barn, trying to get his attention. She managed to scare a lot of the chocobos away, and received a hard stare from Cloud.  
"You can't go out there! The beast will get you! It's not safe!" she had managed to stop the boy from crying and hid the Gil safely in her pocket. Cloud continued stroking the female chocobo until she bent her head down to let him mount her. As soon as he did, the woman grabbed his trouser leg and pulled, forcing Cloud to lose his balance. What did she want now?  
"I've warned you! Don't you think I haven't, because I have! That beast will eat you alive!" the chocobos had managed to coo softly over the woman's infernal racket.  
Cloud had no choice but to respond to her.  
"I know what I'm doing. I'm prepared." He lifted the back of his cloak to reveal his concealed Buster Sword. A slight shine bounced onto the woman's face as she stared at it, before it disappeared again, under the cloak.  
The woman was lost for words yet again, giving Cloud the opportunity he needed to get away from this place and travel back to Midgar. He kicked his heels into the side of the chocobo, making her rear up and rush forward. They rushed past the other chocobos, who moved out the way, and jumped over the fence. Wind blew in a stronger concentration at Cloud's face, making him feel refreshed.  
By now, the woman was staring after him, completely silent. She had no idea what Cloud was about to do; and neither did he.

"Mmm. They smell nice! . . . Okay, Dad . . . Yeah, we'll save some for you . . . Bye." Marlene ended the conversation by pressing the 'end' button. Tifa and Denzel were icing up the last of the cookies, ready for eating. Seventh Heaven had never smelt so good before. Freshly baked cookies topped with sticky icing had spread their scent throughout the house. Tifa stood upright and closed her eyes to inhale the wonderful smell. Breathing in, she realised that they hadn't made anything for so long. _We should do this more often_ Tifa thought to herself. It brought joy to the children and to herself. _It should also bring joy to Cloud, if he ever returned today._  
"There all done, Tifa! We just need some chocolate buttons to finish." Tifa opened her eyes and realised that Denzel had iced the last of the cookies. She made a mental note to always pay attention to the kids.  
"We've done well, haven't we, Denzel?" he smiled in response, making Tifa smile too. Marlene had rushed off to replace the phone to its rightful place. She almost tripped on the stairs as she returned, worrying Tifa as she saw.  
"Are you alright, Marlene?" she straightened and descended the rest of the stairs.  
"Yeah," Was her quick response. Marlene walked over to the two and looked at them both.  
"Can I help?" she asked, shyly. Tifa and Denzel both looked over at her. She didn't have to ask the question, but she already had. Both Denzel and Tifa couldn't share the fun between themselves; they needed an extra person to share it with.  
"Of course, Marlene! We're just looking for some chocolate buttons to finish off the cookies."  
"Okay!" she cheerfully said to them.  
Tifa loved doing things like this. It brought out the character in both children. It was fun and they could do something in their 'exciting' day.  
"I think I put them over there." Tifa said to them both, expecting them to find the buttons first. Denzel rushed over to a cupboard Tifa was pointing to and rummaged through the contents. Marlene walked over to Denzel and peered over his shoulder, trying hard to spot the packet.  
"What colour was it, Tifa?" Denzel asked her, through the sound of wrappers hitting against the side of one another.  
"Yellow" she said, thinking of the mess that was going to be left. _Well, cleaning up is the best part_ she thought to herself. _Knowing these two, there would be a lot of mess to clean up._  
When the cookies were made, Tifa would have to give one to each of them and put the remainder onto a nice plate to display on the corner of the counter. Drinks would probably have to be made. Denzel would have a glass of milk and Marlene would have orange juice. Tifa would gladly make them all drinks to go with their cookies, and it was getting late in the day. She looked at her wrist and peered at her watch. Ten to Four. Cloud should have been home ten minutes ago . . .  
"Found it!"  
"Marlene, that's not fair!"  
Tifa looked across at them both to find Marlene walking over with a yellow packet of chocolate buttons in her hand, and Denzel following behind with his arms folded and a disappointed look on his face.  
"What's the matter?" she asked him. Denzel didn't respond. "Don't you want to finish off the cookies?" Denzel changed his expression back to his happy one.  
"Yes!" Tifa smiled at him, almost laughing. Soon, the cookies would be finished and they could happily eat them.

The long, hard work of preparation had paid off. Reno had managed to use his efforts to pick up the phone and call for a meal from a delivery service. No matter what Rude and Reno did, they just couldn't make a meal for Rufus; it was too difficult. They burnt another fish, couldn't even boil vegetables properly, and then wouldn't touch anything else in case it went wrong as well. Rufus would want his meal soon. He would demand it in five minutes. Five minutes! Rude rushed around in panic, unable to think of another option to their dilemma.  
"Damn it!" Reno said. They should have already been here by now. They were, after all, ten minutes late.  
Reno paced the entrance room, occasionally glancing out the window at the world. Nature is so complex he thought. So complex, two intellectual humans can't even prepare a simple meal! Many more thoughts rushed through Reno's head, always carrying a link to another.  
Rude sighed, then decided to pour himself a drink.  
"Where's the whisky?" he asked Reno, whilst searching through all the cupboards. Reno hadn't the faintest idea where it was.  
"Maybe Rufus has got it." He replied to him. This made Rude freeze on the spot. If Rufus had it, he wouldn't want it taken away from him, and he would shout at him for even giving drinking a thought. Rude shivered and then poured himself a glass of water. With his imagination, water could be anything.  
Many more minutes passed. Rude began to worry again, and Reno sighed heavily. Just as Reno was about to open the front door to search for the delivery service, the bell rang. Rude filled with hope and Reno rushed over to confirm his suspicions. The delivery man was quite young and obviously didn't have any other means of work he could go to. His uniform was ridiculous, but Reno managed to keep quiet.  
"Here's your meal, Sir." He said, passing over a box to Reno. "That'll be twenty-one fifty." He added, holding out his hand for the money.  
"Put it on the Shinra bill." Reno said, closing the door, but as he did, it stopped. The delivery man had put his foot there to stop him.  
"I'm afraid you can't do that, Sir." Reno looked shocked.  
"Do you want to talk to Rufus Shinra about this?" he asked him, almost certain the man would refuse.  
"Well, no, but you can't do that. I'll need twenty-one fifty now, or I'm calling the police." Reno sighed, heavily. This man wasn't going to give up.

Cloud felt completely free with the rush of cold wind blasting into his face. The chocobo and himself had managed to put a few fields between them and the chocobo farm. At the moment, there was no sign of this 'beast.' But that could suddenly change . . .  
"Kweeh!" the chocobo cried, as they ran further yet. Cloud smiled at her, secretly delighted of the time they would spend together.  
Tifa was waiting with Denzel and Marlene in Seventh Heaven, for him to return. Cloud couldn't go any faster, and because of this 'beast,' he would have to be a little bit later. They would all understand why he was late, they always seemed to, but despite this, Tifa was always constantly worried. It wasn't a nice feeling for Cloud to know that Tifa was worrying for him. Then again, Cloud always had more than those feelings to put towards Tifa.  
Seeing a lake start to appear over a vast hill, Cloud realised that he had drifted off into the wrong direction.  
"Kweh! KWEH! KWEEEH!" the chocobo cried, starting to get louder and louder. It may have been Cloud's imagination, but the ground started to shake slightly. It was shaking in a rhythm, like a walking pattern of a giant . . .  
The chocobo reared up and Cloud struggled to hold on. He almost fell off when something in the distance came charging out in their direction. It did not look like anything Cloud had ever faced before. A large, flat face covered its neck and a huge body covered in several limbs with two fat legs sticking out beneath. Its body was mostly covered in scales, although there was some fur in odd places. To finish off the look, a pair of giant horns curved their way up the side of its face, inducing fear into all that dared look.  
Cloud pulled the chocobo to retreat. This must be the beast. Thinking about it now, Cloud thought that facing it might be a little bit harder than he first presumed.  
The chocobo sprinted faster than Cloud had cared to realise. This beast was either going to kill them or as the woman said, eat them alive. Cloud didn't really want his life to end by being swallowed whole by a beast. It didn't seem right.  
As the chocobo rushed forward, the beast was gaining on them. It thudded along, using all its weight to propel itself forward. Cloud didn't look back in fear of losing control. He urged the chocobo faster, while searching for an alternative route to deal with this beast. Cloud's eyes spotted a few trees to their left. If he could time it right, he could gain the upper-hand.  
Forcing the chocobo to increase its speed, Cloud nudged her in the direction of the trees. The beast was rushing forward, but being less agile, failed to turn in time to catch them. It roared in annoyance and charged back towards them.  
The chocobo started to cry again, making Cloud confirm the beast was still on its way. He made the chocobo run under the trees with the beast close on its tail. Stopping in the middle of the trees, he was surprised to find his plan had worked. The beast had tried to follow them, but being unintelligent, whacked its head on a thick branch, sending him toppling over in a heap.  
Cloud hastily got to his own feet and unsheathed his Buster Sword. He un-clicked another sword from the blade and wielded that in his spare hand. Using two swords might give him an advantage. He ran over to the beast, just as it rose from the ground, and stared beating it with successive hits.  
The beast finally realised it was being attacked and tried to shake Cloud off, but as he was agile, Cloud managed to back-flip out of harms way, to return again with more slices from his sword. The beast roared in anger and started to use all its six arms to grab Cloud. He had a hard time dodging all of the limbs, but Cloud managed to continue slicing for a while, until a firm hand shot out and grabbed him, then slipped off as he was flung into the air.  
The wind rushed faster and faster all around Cloud as he kept spinning in countless directions, he then managed to regain his balance. He clicked the blade back into his Buster Sword and spun it around his head, charging up a great deal of power. The beast leapt into the air after him and as Cloud fell, he released the energy from his sword. It came crashing down into the beast's direction and exploded in a ball of blue flame as it impacted.  
Cloud slowly descended to the ground with perfected skill, eagerly watching the big flaming explosion. There was a roar that continued throughout and all the birds in the nearby trees flew away in terror. Cloud presumed the beast was still alive, but he couldn't attack yet, because he couldn't see it.  
The smoke around dissipated, and Cloud couldn't see the beast. An attack like that surely couldn't neutralise it. It wasn't powerful enough. Cloud kept his caution and looked all around him. His chocobo was still in the trees, hiding from danger, but there was no sign of the beast.  
Cloud started walking in her direction, until he was grabbed by a giant hand. He couldn't move because he was being held too tightly. The beast lifted him up and held him over his open mouth. Fear started to fill Cloud. Oh, great he thought. He was going to be eaten. His attempts to stop this beast had been in vain. He had tried hard, but he couldn't do it. The beast's mouth was filled with flat teeth, there were some sharp ones at the front, but most of them were flat. Its tongue was large, and filled the rest of its mouth, a mouth Cloud didn't wish to enter.  
Cloud searched rapidly for a solution to this problem, but couldn't find one. The only way he could get out of this, was if he could move again.  
"KWEH! KWEEH!" the chocobo cried, making the beast turn in surprise. This gave Cloud his chance. He broke free of the grip and pointed his sword in the direction of its mouth as he fell. The beast was unaware of what had happened and kept its stance.  
A great stench of rotten flesh filled Cloud's nostrils, as he fell into the beast's mouth. His plan had to work, otherwise he would be eaten, and he couldn't tell anyone anything. Cloud spread his legs to hold himself in position. His left leg was on the tongue, and his right, on the roof of the mouth. The beast had now realised where he had gone, and started to shake, forcing Cloud to lose his grip and be swallowed.  
Cloud kept his balance, and thrust his Buster Sword into the roof of the beast's mouth. The beast had no time to cry, and fell onto the floor with a thump that rumbled the ground beneath.  
"KWEH!" the chocobo cried, clearly surprised at the end result. Cloud was still inside the beast's mouth. He managed to crawl out of an open gap and deeply inhale the fresh air. Never before had he so desperately wanted clean air. The chocobo had now run up beside him and looked him over, almost checking to see if he was still in the same shape. Cloud sighed and stroked the chocobo.  
"That wasn't so tough now, was it?"


	4. Chapter 3

Tifa had managed to get Denzel and Marlene to finish off the cookies. Once they were done, they each took one and grabbed a drink of their choice. Tifa placed the remaining cookies onto a plate for later, and tucked them away on the end of a surface. Cloud should have been back a moment ago, but being Cloud, he was always late. Twenty minutes to him was around an hour, making his estimated time home, a half hour.  
Tifa took another bite of her cookie and a sip of her drink. Why did Cloud always have to be late? Was it something he liked doing, or was it him being annoying? Either way, Tifa didn't like it – at all. _Listen to yourself, Tifa! You're sounding like you're married to the man._ Even Tifa's thoughts were thinking the unimaginable. _Cloud would never want to settle down and have a wife . . . or would he?_  
"Tifa? What are you doing?" Tifa suddenly returned to reality and looked down at Marlene. She didn't know what to say, so said the first thing at mind.  
"I was thinking. It's no big deal. Have you both finished your cookie then?" After she had said this, both Denzel and Marlene were nodding and smiling simultaneously.  
"Uhuh!" This made Tifa smile.  
"What should we do now? Is there anything you want to do before Cloud gets here?" This question had made them both think. They thought that Cloud would have returned when they were eating their cookies, but he never did. They didn't really want to think about it, but Tifa was asking them for something to do now. They thought that if they didn't want to do anything, Tifa would get angry. This was, of course, not true, but they presumed it was.  
"Hide and Seek! Let's play Hide and Seek, Denzel!"  
Marlene had very quickly chosen an answer, before Denzel himself could say anything. Tifa stared at them both, smiling.  
"Are you sure you want to play Hide and Seek?" Their version of Hide and Seek had a prize for the winner. This prize wasn't something too special, but it was something to look forward to. Denzel turned his expression neutral and answered Tifa with Marlene.  
"Yes!" Tifa increased the size of her grin.  
"One – two – three – four -" Both Marlene and Denzel had ran off, as they suddenly realised Tifa was counting. Tifa turned around so she couldn't see where they were headed, but managed to hear them climb the stairs as they thundered up them in haste.  
They could only hide where they could go, so Tifa started crossing out possibilities that she knew they couldn't get to, without either her or Cloud's help.  
They could easily hide somewhere Tifa could spot them, so in that case she would pretend she didn't see them.  
"Ready!" two voices said in unison, just loud enough for Tifa to hear.  
"Twenty-nine – thirty." Tifa stopped counting and whizzed around. They had hidden quite quickly. Maybe they didn't want to get a prize, either way, the children would have to be silent, or they would give their game away.

"Kweh!" the chocobo cried. Cloud patted her on the neck to reassure she had been a good chocobo. They were now only a mile from Midgar, and could see it over the stretch of green in front of them. They hadn't seen the vehicle that he had been riding in previously, but they did see some wild chocobos running along.  
The wind was much fiercer now as there were no mountains to shelter it. This wind kept fiercely tackling Cloud as if to say "No, you can't come this way." But Cloud would persist. He was getting home one way or another.  
The day was nearing an end and the sky was becoming a deeper shade by the hour. Clouds had started to drift off and the sun was starting to descend to rest for the night. If Cloud wasn't fast enough, he would be facing many fiends that were easy enough to handle, but a nuisance to avoid. Kicking his heels into the side of the chocobo, Cloud edged it forward.  
His day had been a long one. Maybe too long. Cloud wasn't getting old – he was only twenty-two. All of this fighting was good for him; it really was. He was in a fit state, even fitter than Tifa.  
_Tifa,_ he thought to himself. He swayed with a mix of emotions, leaving him trying to push that thought aside. _If only it were as simple as telling her. Things would be much better that way._ But, no, he knew they would end up being a lot worse. The 'bad guys,' wherever they may be, would use Tifa to control Cloud. No, he couldn't tell her; at least, not yet.  
Cloud continued to think things through. The first thought was of Tifa. What if she didn't like him? That would be embarrassing, if Cloud told her and then she said she already has a boyfriend.  
"Ouch," Cloud said to himself. That could hurt.  
Moving along at a faster pace, Cloud thought it best that he thought no more. His thoughts would always trouble him and it was always painful.  
"Next time, I'll take my bike." He silently said to himself. The chocobo heard him and cried in annoyance.  
"Don't be offended. The bike's just . . . faster. You've been a great companion!" the chocobo cooed and continued on, knowing that she had made a friend.

"Well, what do ya think, Boss?" Reno said in his usual sarcastic tone. They had managed to serve Rufus his meal, but they were still uneasy about his response. He might take it easily, or he might be angry and take it out on them.  
The dinner table was part of another room. It was a nice shade of brown, wooden and very sturdy. It couldn't be disturbed easily; it was quite short and stocky, almost made for turmoil. The rest of the room, which was fairly large, held the lounge as well. A comfy couch stood a way over the room, opposite the television. There were only basic things, but the rehabilitation clinic were trying to get Rufus back into modern-day life. Whatever means they could use, they would. It was for the greater good, as with all their patients.  
Rufus was sitting in his wheelchair, as per usual. He was in rehabilitation because he stayed behind at Shinra headquarters when the Mako Canon – The Sister Ray - had fired and Shinra had exploded because a huge monster called Weapon fired some shots back at it. Two years later, he had another incident with Kadaj, who exploded at Rufus when he dropped the box containing Jenova's head off a tall building. Many people don't know why he stayed at Shinra, or even how he escaped, but they just know he's alive. Rufus was dressed in his white suit, with a bandage round his head. Some of this covered his light-red hair (which wasn't as dark as Reno's) and other parts covered his forehead. Over his suit was a rag-like garment which covered most of his body. It kept him unseen and secretive.  
Rufus looked down at his plate and smiled. Rude stood by his side, his expression neutral. Reno was standing on Rufus' opposite side, waiting for a reply.  
"You have exceeded my expectations." He said. This could have meant anything. It could mean that he knew they bought the meal, or it could mean the total opposite.  
"I like the way you've made me look like a fool." Rufus said as he picked up his cutlery and began to make a start on the food. Reno looked a little uneasy.  
"W-what d'ya mean, Boss?" he asked, unable to hide his fear. Rufus chewed part of his delightful gourmet fish and smiled.  
"You didn't cook this." Reno started a little, whereas Rude shifted, uneasily.  
"There was nothing I could do, Boss. You wouldn't eat burnt fish!" Rufus chuckled softly.  
"I wouldn't be so sure . . ." Reno gawped at him. Rude cleared his throat, trying to make Reno quit while he was ahead.  
"Half of it was uncooked!" Reno said, still gawping at him. Rufus chuckled again, raising another fish piece to his mouth.  
"I'll dock your pay. Now," he said, after Reno had closed his mouth. "I have an important task for you two. I'll inform you after dinner. Now leave." Rude started to walk towards the door. He knew Reno was still in the same place, so he walked up to him and physically moved him out the room.

Denzel and Marlene were good at this game. Tifa had searched the house and still couldn't find a trace of them. She had searched in all places she knew they could hide – upstairs and downstairs. She was just about to give up then she heard a thud above her. They were in the attic. How could they have gotten up there? More importantly, they were rummaging. They could find anything in there. Even secrets that best lay forgotten.  
"Denzel? Marlene?" Tifa called as she walked slowly towards the entrance. Suddenly, they stopped and stayed still, too scared to move.  
Tifa crept along the landing, walking upon the carpet to soften her steps. She kept her breathing hushed and braced herself for the jump up to the attic. As she did jump, Tifa let out a small cry of effort. Her feet left the ground and she somersaulted into the hole in the ceiling, her leather clothes rustling with the quick movement. As her feet met floor again, she looked around. The light was off, so not much could be seen, and as it was the evening, Tifa's vision was only limited.  
Cobwebs hung about in many odd places, almost covering everything. A carpet of dust lay across all in sight and was dotted with finger marks. Big boxes and wardrobes surrounded the walls and various ornaments were scattered about behind boxes, in boxes and even hanging from the roof.  
Now, if Tifa was right in saying so, the light switch should just be around . . . here. Tifa flicked it up and a dull light lit up the room. The bulb wasn't too bright, but at least it did what it should do.  
"Denzel? Marlene?" Tifa called them again, this time followed by muted answers.  
"Tifa!"  
"Tifa!"  
She was glad to have found the children, and it did make a change that they hid so well.  
Pushing aside her annoyance at them, Tifa carefully trod through the piles of forgotten things on the floor.  
"How did you get up here?" she asked them both.  
Denzel and Marlene started to come into sight now as Tifa turned the corner. She found them both staring at her in joy.  
"Look what we found." Marlene held up pieces of paper for Tifa to take. Walking over to them, she did. They were pictures that they had drawn when they were a lot younger. Several of the pages were Marlene's and a few of them were Denzel's. They weren't very good, but Tifa loved them both, so she said they were excellent, but was surprised to find them both disagreeing.  
"Look at that arm; it's much too big!" Marlene said, convinced.  
"That was supposed to be a car." Denzel pointed, and laughed at his own picture.  
Tifa didn't see why these should be left up here so decided she'd take them down to hang on the walls.  
"These are going downstairs." She said to them both. Marlene and Denzel looked up at her again, their expressions concerned.  
"You're not going to take them down?" Denzel asked her, unbelieving.  
Tifa wryly smiled.  
"Yes, Denzel. I am. They're lovely pictures, and I don't see why you want to forget about them." Denzel remained quiet, unable to speak over Tifa's decision. She looked around at the mess they had moved and frowned.  
"What else have you found?" Marlene thought for a moment, then turned her back on Tifa and walked the opposite way.  
"I remember seeing something interesting over here." Marlene pointed, and Denzel and Tifa followed her mark. Tifa's heart leapt a beat. That box was hers, and the contents were secret. She couldn't let it be opened. It contained personal things as well as important items.  
"Marlene? Stop. You can't open that box, sorry." Marlene turned round to see Tifa looking at her, curiously. She wanted to desperately open the box, but Tifa would get angry, so Marlene decided to follow her command, and returned back to Tifa.  
"Can we go down now? Cloud should be here soon." Marlene must have missed Cloud very terribly, even when he was late. Denzel looked at her in dismay.  
"What? We can't go down. What about our treat, Tifa?" Tifa looked at him, after taking Marlene's hand.  
"You weren't hiding, Denzel. And you were somewhere you weren't supposed to be." Denzel blushed slightly and lowered his gaze. Like Marlene, Denzel also wanted to rummage some more, but he knew if he tried, Tifa would stop him, by any means.  
"Come on, Denzel." He looked up to see Tifa at the opening. "Down we go." Denzel smiled. There was a hint of cheerfulness in her voice that sounded delightful, beckoning him towards her. He took Tifa's hand and the three of them descended to the landing once more.

Cloud had come very close to Seventh Heaven. He had said goodbye to his chocobo a long way back, just before the slums of this Sector. The chocobo was a smart one, and it would return to its farm, where Cloud had hired it from.  
Cloud walked along, sighing deeply. He would be home soon and everyone would be annoyed with him for being late, but at least he had a good story for the children. That was one of the main things. The other was that he was still alive.  
Trudging through a few ditches, Cloud remembered a previous experience here. Aerith was still alive then and they had only just met. He didn't understand her at first, but soon realised that she had loved him. Cloud was stuck in a love triangle. On one hand, there was Tifa, and on the other, there was Aerith. Cloud was unsure of which direction he should go, but even now Aerith was gone, he still wasn't sure. The only way he could really go was towards Tifa.  
_Am I doing the right thing?_ He asked himself. _There are so many things I want to do, ask, say. And I can't do it._ Cloud shifted through all of these thoughts, neither starting, nor coming to a conclusion. He closed his eyes and felt the putrid stench of the slums meet his senses.  
This used to be familiar to him. This stench was bearable back then, but now he couldn't stand it. He had been back and forth so many times, he wasn't sure if the smell had been used to him, or he used to the smell.  
So many things had happened in the last three years. Cloud had managed to stop Sephiroth on another occasion and Tifa had looked after Barret's daughter and an orphan. Together they started a business of the Strife Delivery Service. They would have fliers all over places and people would give them a call, Tifa would answer and then Cloud would go off on his motorbike to deliver the item, or items.  
His motorbike! He could have used that to get here faster, but he had left it here because he hadn't needed it. But it was quite the opposite, he had needed it, he just didn't know it, like Tifa.  
_Oh._ With a great deal of effort, Cloud managed to push those thoughts aside. He didn't want to think about his troubles or anyone else's. Cloud closed his eyes and continued.

The door to Seventh Heaven opened. All three of its occupants had sheer joy on their faces.  
"CLOUD!"  
"Cloud, you're here at last!" they ran down the stairs and looked over at the door, expecting Cloud to have been there. It wasn't Cloud. It was another figure, but fortunately, all three of them had seen this figure before. He was in the image of a vampire. He had long, black hair that ran below his shoulders; a long, dark red, tattered cloak that covered his back; and his most distinctive feature yet – his golden metal claw on his left hand. He also wore golden metal pointy shoes on his feet as well, which also created his image of terrifying.  
"Hello, children, Tifa." He said. His voice was deep; deeper than Cloud's but deep enough to be understood, and deep enough to invoke fear into strangers.  
"Vincent," Tifa said. "We're glad to see you, but why are you here?" Vincent looked down at the floor, then up to meet her gaze.  
"Where's Cloud?" he asked in a demanding voice. Tifa started at him.  
"He should be here soon. Make yourself comfy and I'm sure he'll get back to you." Vincent didn't smile, as was the usual response, but nodded instead. He then walked over to a stool and sat down, eyeing the cookies, eagerly. He waited for someone to let him proceed.  
"Oh, you can have one, Vincent. We baked them not long ago. They should still be fresh." Vincent reached over to the cookie plate and gently picked one up with his golden hand. As he raised it to his mouth, it didn't crumble at all. Vincent was used to his body. He had been with it for a very long time, after all.  
"Stop staring! You know Vincent; he helped us last year." Tifa whispered to Denzel and Marlene. They didn't move though, but stood still.  
"Urgh! Argh!" Vincent's cries made them all jump. He was screaming in pain. Why? Was it the cookies?  
"Vincent? Vincent?! Are you alright? Vincent!" Tifa's voice rang out above his noise, and then she saw him and smiled. He was playing a trick on the children. He was pretending to be poisoned, but he really wasn't. He just wanted to see their expressions when he suddenly 'died.' With a loud thud, he fell to the floor, motionless.  
Denzel and Marlene both screamed together. They had no idea what was going on.  
"TIFA!" They cried. "TIFA!" as their breathing increased, they slowly bent over Vincent to look closely at him. They had a sudden urge to inspect Vincent's body. If he had died, they would want to find out how.  
Feeling them coming closer, Vincent opened his eyes, lifted up his upper-body in one motion and cried: "BOO!" both children screamed again, but as Vincent started to laugh, they did too.  
"That was a mean trick!" Marlene said, not at all amused. She actually thought he had died!  
"Yeah, I remember you!" Denzel said through his laugh.  
"Good." Vincent replied. He had finished off his cookie and was now perching on a stool, staring at them all. Tifa turned to Denzel and Marlene and wanted to get them out of the room so Vincent and she could talk.  
"Children? Why don't you play between you for a while? Upstairs." There was a hint of desperation in her voice, but that was covered by the command. When both children had nodded in agreement and whisked away, Tifa turned to Vincent.  
"Why is Cloud late this time?" he asked. Tifa choked back a laugh.  
"He's always late, but I'm sure he'll have a good reason." Vincent eyed her with a searching look.  
"And if he doesn't?" Tifa laughed.  
"I know Cloud better than you, Vincent! He'll have an explanation!" her voice didn't sound convincing enough.  
"Tifa -" Vincent began. A sudden burst of anger shot its way through her body. He was going to lecture her.  
"NO!" She shouted at him. She then slumped onto a chair and almost started to cry. "I'm sorry, Vincent. I didn't mean it."  
"I know." He replied, walking over to comfort her.  
"I'm fine, really." She said through a few tears. "It's just a stressing time at the moment." Vincent agreed with her and embraced her in a hug.  
"I can understand, Tifa." He said in a softer tone than usual. Maybe things were going to be just right, but she didn't know it yet. Maybe Cloud was going to get a lecture when he returned. Tifa thought of all the possibilities she could do when Cloud came in through that door. She held the hug and thought deeply.

When Rufus had finally finished his meal, he called the other back in. His plate was still on the table, accompanied by a wine glass, full of a red liquid. Reno noted this, but as he learnt a lesson, didn't say anything.  
"Well," Rufus began. "I have a request – a simple mission for you." Rude walked over to him and stood by Reno's side. They were being informed by the boss, so he presumed standing next to Reno would be better for Rufus.  
"You're aware of the Strife Delivery Service, no?" Reno frowned.  
"You don't want us to bring Cloud here?" Rufus raised a hand to silence him. He then picked up his wine glass and took a sip of his wine.  
"No, I have a more interesting task for you; nothing to do with Cloud, or his 'family.'" Reno looked more curious at this comment whereas Rude didn't move, or even change an expression. "In their residence – in the Sector Seven slums – there is a trunk of vital importance. I want you to retrieve that trunk and bring it here." Rude thought for a moment.  
"Are we helping Cloud at all? Is this something that he needs doing?" Rufus smiled, chuckled lightly and drained the rest of his wine.  
"Cloud doesn't want this trunk taken. You'll have to take it from under his nose."

Cloud stood outside the door of Seventh Heaven. He was unable to open it. Cloud didn't know what everyone would be like when he entered. Maybe they would all have a go at him, or maybe they'd give him a lecture. Cloud shivered about the latter option. _Well_, he thought. _I'd best not make it any longer than it needs be._ Sucking in a large breath, he grasped the door handle and turned it. The door opened with its usual creak but inside Cloud couldn't see anyone. He thought briefly, until he walked into the room.  
_Maybe they were out somewhere, on a delivery?_ Maybe Tifa had a call for a delivery and since Cloud wasn't here, she decided to do it herself. Cloud walked along, until he placed his Buster Sword in a safe place, away from prying hands. Moving forward still, he pulled up a chair and hastily sat into it. The weariness of the day was starting to take a toll. _I just need a nice shower and a good sleep._ Cloud had closed his eyes and was rubbing his temples. He pulled his shoes off with his feet and left them under the table. He was exhausted. His day seemed to have dragged on for years. First, a few deliveries in the early morning. Then a whole village to save which was miles away, and now the journey home with the inevitable ending of facing Tifa.  
Cloud whistled briefly. He then heard footsteps coming from one side of the room, then stop. Tifa he presumed.  
"Hello, Cloud." He jumped. _Tifa's voice isn't that deep._ Cloud sat up on his chair and opened his eyes to look at the owner of the voice. Vincent weakly smiled and waved a hand. Cloud knew it was an old acquaintance, but he never expected it to be Vincent.  
"What's going on?" Cloud asked him, expecting trouble to have aroused because of his visit. Vincent's stare bored into Cloud's.  
"Tifa's in the other room crying." Cloud's stomach lurched. Why was Tifa crying? _And more importantly,_ he thought, _why did my stomach lurch with emotion?_  
"Well?" Vincent's voice hung about in the air. Cloud had no choice anyway. He had to see to Tifa.  
Picking himself up, Cloud followed Vincent to the next room where Tifa was sitting on a chair, with her head in her hands, on a table.  
"Tifa?" hearing Cloud's voice, she suddenly looked up. Her face filled with sheer joy and her heart leapt.  
"Cloud!" she quickly rose from her chair and ran over to him, embracing him with a warm hug. After a moment or two, Tifa broke the silence.  
"Why were you so late?" Cloud was ready for this question. He had pondered it all the while of his journey.  
"I had to tend to some other matters." He said. "There was this beast, you see -" Tifa cut him off.  
"So you had to go and kill it. Is that it?" Cloud didn't protest.  
"It was a chocobo eater. I had to save them. There were hundreds. I couldn't let them be devoured!" Tifa understood before he even finished his sentence.  
"Well, it's just okay that you're back in one piece!" Tifa hugged him again, then realised what she was doing and let go of him, blushing slightly. To her surprise, Cloud also had the signs of a broad smile on his face. Maybe he liked that . . . _No,_ Tifa thought. _Stop thinking like this!_  
"So, Cloud." Cloud turned around to speak to Vincent.  
"Yes?" he said, encouraging Vincent to continue. He didn't hesitate in the slightest.  
"This delivery system of yours? How does it work?" Cloud couldn't keep the confusion out of his expression. "If it works the same way as I'm told, then you must ignore the next package that comes for your delivery." Tifa began to protest, but both men silenced her with a vertically placed hand.  
"Now," Vincent continued. "This package will be worth a great deal, but you must not deliver it. It is an item of great power that can threaten a great number of lives on the planet."  
The package would be delivered to a scientist of some sort who means to use this item to blow up towns where he originated. One of these towns is Midgar." Tifa sucked in a breath, gasping at this piece of information. Cloud took it in and sighed. He had to refuse a great deal of money, but it was for the greater good.  
"Thanks, Vincent. We'll acknowledge this." With that, Cloud escorted him to the front door and said his farewells.


	5. Chapter 4

_Well,_ Cloud thought. _If only I could get that money. The bills would go, and I could . . . no, Tifa wouldn't like that._ Cloud was in the shower scrubbing himself thoroughly. His thoughts had lingered on that lone package, unable to move onto anything else.  
As more hot water gushed down onto Cloud's muscled body, he moved around to get an even spread. This was just what he needed after his long, hard day. Cloud put his head under the flowing water, making his hair sag against his face. The once spiky hair now lay stuck to his own face. Lifting his head, Cloud let the water gush down onto his face again. He felt very refreshed after this, and used his hands to start cleaning all of the pores.  
The bathroom was quite basic. It wasn't fancy or too shabby, but at least it worked. There was an interesting design for the walls, which went round a corner to meet the shower, and those walls were covered in cream tiles. On the floor was a shiny, surface that made water spills easier to clean up. On the ceiling were planks of wood in a deep red that made you want to stare up at it in wonder and amazement. For lighting, a series of white bulbs were dotted around the ceiling, linked to a single switch next to the door. This made it convenient for the lighting of the room, especially when dark.  
Inside the mid-space room was a shower, with the contents of Cloud at the present moment; a big airing cupboard, for all the towels and clothes; a large window, complete with sill, holding all manner of items, including medicines, make-up and cotton buds; and in the bathroom was a medium sized sink. There was also a radiator and a towel rack, both for the use of towels. Cloud's clothes lay in a heap on the floor, just beside the towel rack and the door. He had rushed off to the shower rather quickly to refresh himself from the day.  
After repeating the same routine for twenty minutes or so, Cloud finally decided to get out. He had taken long enough in the shower, but now he needed to get to sleep if he was to deliver that package tomorrow. _No,_ Cloud thought. _I'm not supposed to deliver it!_ Now Cloud felt like slapping himself around the face, but since he was so refreshed, he didn't even want to move.  
Cloud walked over to the towel rack besides the shower, when he heard the bathroom door open! He had closed that door so nobody could come in. He even locked it, or so he thought. Even before he could whip out a towel, the figure walked into the room. To his surprise, it was Tifa.  
His stomach lurched and he felt a mixture of emotions steal over him. He blushed hard when she looked over at him. Seeing him standing there with no clothes at all made Tifa's stomach lurch, and a mixture of feelings stole over her as well. Cloud was unable to say anything, and so was Tifa. Her gaze fell downward and Cloud hesitated. As her eyes fixed on a certain bodily part, Cloud extended his right arm and whipped out a towel to cover himself.  
After he placed it over his bottom half, Tifa suddenly realised where she was.  
"Sorry, I . . . urm . . ." she couldn't think of the right words to say, as if she were in a trance or something. Cloud stood there, unsure of what would happen in the next few minutes.  
"Did I not lock the door?" Cloud blushed slightly as Tifa was now staring at his top half. "Tifa?" Cloud tried to get her attention back and succeeded.  
"Oh . . . right, sorry!" grabbing a tea towel from the airing cupboard, she backed out the room, with her gaze still fixed on Cloud.  
_Why did you not do anything?!_ Cloud was angry at himself now. There was a chance to tell Tifa how he was feeling, but he put on a towel instead. _Why did I put on a towel?!_ Cloud felt like hitting something, but he couldn't muster the will. He felt like such an idiot for putting a towel around himself rather than confronting Tifa, as he would have liked to have done. Standing alone in the bathroom, Cloud heavily sighed.

Tifa descended the flight of stairs and sighed heavily. Why had she acted like such a fool? Cloud had stood in the middle of the room butt-naked and she hadn't even said anything to him. Not even the slightest "Cloud, I've got something to tell you." Or "I like your body, Cloud." Tifa wanted to hit herself, but she knew that she wouldn't. _Another chance might come_ she thought, optimistically. _No, don't be a fool!_ She then felt regretful and continued down the stairs.  
Carrying the tea-towel to the kitchen, Tifa placed it on a towel rack and turned her attention to the washing-up. The cookies had been made a few hours ago, but Cloud had never taken one, and Tifa never bothered to wash up the equipment used. The children had been more important at the time and Tifa suddenly seemed to forget about it.  
But now, she had seen Cloud as she had always dreamed, and her mind was still going through all the possible things she could have done instead. As her mind was spinning with all these wonderful thoughts and feelings, Tifa started to clean the equipment. The progress was slow, but as she started to run out of ideas for Cloud's company, she quickly concentrated on the task ahead.  
As soon as the washing-up was done, Tifa stood still and sighed, remembering her stumble upon Cloud in the bathroom. A wave of emotions spread their way through Tifa's body, and she suddenly felt a thrill.  
"Where could Marlene and Denzel be?" she said to herself, trying to shift her mind to a different subject.  
Tifa walked to the tea-towel next to the sink and delicately dried her hands. She then reached over and took a cookie from the plate and placed it into her mouth. The cookies were only small, but they were extremely tasty.  
"Penvel? Marwene?" Tifa called for the children as she crunched on the cookie.  
To her surprise, the children could hear her and thundered from the landing, down the stairs and to the kitchen. Marlene was holding onto a few colouring pens and was wearing a cute expression. Denzel was puffing for breath, but managed to hold a large smile on his face.  
"Aw woo bowf awight?" Tifa asked them. They nodded in response and kept their postures.  
"Ti . . . fa?" Denzel managed to say through gasps of air.  
She looked at him and smiled wryly to herself, then swallowed the cookie.  
"Yes, Denzel?" he gasped for air a while longer, then looked up at Tifa.  
"What's to eat?" suddenly Tifa realised what she had forgotten to do. She bit her lip as a mixture of guilt and annoyance swept over her and she wanted to hit herself. She was supposed to have cooked dinner by now, but she was too busy washing up and 'tending to other things.'  
"It's just going to take a little while longer." She lied to the children, expecting them to agree then rush off again. "We'll all sit down and eat together. Won't that be nice?" Denzel smiled and nodded, while Marlene did something similar.  
"We could play with Cloud!" Tifa felt a huge wave of emotions overcome her and almost lost her balance. She caught herself with a hand on the counter. In future, she must remember to not think of such euphemisms.  
"Yes, you could play with Cloud as I make – finish off the tea." Both children walked off and giggled to each other. They must have found Tifa's sudden lurch rather amusing. Nevertheless, she still had to make a start on dinner because no-one else would do so.  
She sighed heavily as she pulled equipment out of cupboards once more.

"All set then?" Reno asked Rude as they both walked through a huge corridor leading to the garage. Rude quickened his stride and kept silent.  
"Come on, pal." Reno said, expecting him to lighten up a little. Rude slowed again, and Reno caught up, quickly falling in stride with his partner.  
"Now, we don't hurt Cloud unless we need to, understand?" Rude's voice sounded rather concerned. Reno stared at him, a smile started to form with his lips.  
"Yes, Sir." He said, mockingly.  
They walked a long way until they reached the door on the end. Pushing it open, Reno looked around. The room was completely dark. A little disappointment spread over him, but was replaced by amazement as Rude flicked on a switch on the side of the door. The room lit up and was vast. The floor had a reflective surface and shone with the light from the ceiling. The walls were lined with white paint and green stripes marked the bottom of it. The lights were long bulbs stretched into long shapes to fit the size of the room, and hundreds of vehicles were impressively parked in rows of twenty. As Reno gasped in amazement, Rude started to walk off to the other side of the room.  
"Hey, Rude, which ones are we taking?" he shouted after him. Rude walked on, then stopped and faced Reno.  
"We're taking the bikes." Reno almost fainted with joy as he heard the words.

Cloud had dressed himself rather quickly. He felt like such a fool for not saying anything to Tifa, other than '"Did I not lock the door?"' He blushed as he dressed, remembering their brief encounter, wishing he did something more. Cloud opened the top window in the bathroom and exited the room. He was on his way to his bed now, aware of the tiredness catching up with him. This day had been a long one, one without rests and one without food. _Food._ Maybe if he ate the meal, he could go to sleep easily. Cloud pondered that thought as he walked across the landing to the bedroom. The only problem in the slums was that they didn't have enough money to afford more rooms, so all four of them slept in one room. They had enough beds, but not enough space. Cloud lived in the church in the sector seven slums, but since the delivery service was getting a bit too much, he decided to move in.  
Just before Cloud got to the bedroom door, he heard two voices from his left, two voices that he had missed on his long journey. Seeing both Denzel and Marlene rushing towards him put a big smile on his face.  
"Cloud! Cloud! We've missed you!" Marlene rushed over, much quicker than Denzel and jumped up to Cloud to give him a great big hug. Embracing her back, Cloud saw Denzel over Marlene's shoulder and smiled to him.  
"Hi, Cloud." He said, not too enthusiastically, but with a hint of excitement.

"Hello, children! I've missed you too!" that was Cloud's response as Denzel joined in with their big cornucopia of love. Cloud had missed them. He wasn't lying. He was lonely on the trip, but he had missed them all, especially Tifa.  
"So, what is it you want?" Cloud asked the children as they let go of each other.  
"We want to play with you for a while!" Marlene responded.  
"Well, what do you want to play?"  
"The rampaging monster?" Denzel suggested.  
"Tag?" Marlene threw in. Cloud didn't know what to do. He had just had a shower and didn't want to get all sweaty and mucky too quickly. He wanted the freshness to last. _I want to __SLEEP!_ A voice in the back of his head shouted at him, forcing Cloud to jump. _Hey,_ Cloud thought, _what about sleeping lions?_ His face started to show signs of happiness and weariness at the same time.  
"Sleeping lions." Cloud said to them both. Marlene and Denzel looked at each other, shyly.  
"But-" Denzel cut Marlene off.  
"Yeah, we'll play sleeping lions!" He smiled, then Marlene followed suit. Denzel wanted to spend time with Cloud because he considered him a father. Although he wasn't, it was something Denzel did.  
"Come on then." Cloud beckoned them both to the bedroom so they could play sleeping lions. He opened the door for them to continue onwards, and then start to sleep.  
As soon as both children were in the bedroom, he followed them in, closed the door behind them and leapt onto his bed to get the sleep he wanted. Both Marlene and Denzel were unaware of Cloud's plan to actually sleep; they just thought he was playing. They did notice the weather outside become much colder than it was. The trees seen in the far distance were starting to lose their leaves due to the present autumn. The weather was going to get much colder.

* * *

A sizzling sound turned Tifa's attention to the saucepan on the hob. Smoke issued from it in large bursts, making Tifa cough from the lack of air. She ran towards the saucepan, waving her arms wildly to be rid of the smoke. She pulled the pan from the hob and turned off the heat.  
"Well, what's plan B?" Tifa asked herself, almost sarcastically. She glanced at the watch on her wrist and felt a sudden urge. The sausages were ruined and Tifa couldn't cook a replacement in a few minutes. She groaned and let out a huge sigh. Now what was she supposed to do?  
There were a few steaks in the oven at this time, which were cooking considerably well. But to go with them, Tifa now couldn't serve sausages. Maybe there was something healthy in the fridge or freezer that she could use.  
Taking herself over to the fridge/freezer, Tifa opened the door, only to be greeted with a burst of cool air. There were many things in there, but nothing that she could – hold on. Tifa spotted a hidden packet of steam-fry vegetables. She didn't have enough time for the sausages, but maybe she had enough time for this. It was quick and easy; as were the sausages.  
Groping for the frozen bag in the back of the freezer, Tifa's whole arm was beginning to shiver. She pulled the bag out and closed the freezer door.  
"This can't go wrong easily." Tifa said to herself as she placed the frozen packet of vegetables onto a counter and emptied the contents of the saucepan into the bin. A fowl stench shot up at her when she opened the lid, but quickly disappeared again as she closed the bin. The saucepan was now placed into the washing-up bowl, ready for later.  
Tifa opened a cupboard door and bent down onto her knees to retrieve a wok. The wok was going to be a valuable asset to the steam-fry vegetables.  
"And just hopefully _steam-fry_, not _smoke-fry_." Tifa mused.  
She then rose and placed the wok onto the hob. Closing the cupboard and turning on the low heat, Tifa poured some water into the wok. The water would boil, but not evaporate, and the vegetables would be cooked with the steam. Well, that was the idea anyway. If it did manage to work, they would all be able to eat something more than a steak.  
As the water in the wok started to boil, Tifa thought about Cloud. _He's a strange thing, isn't he? Oh, but he's not a thing. I wonder what the kids are up to with him_ . . . As steam started to waft from the wok, Tifa ripped open the vegetables and poured them in. The frozen vegetables hissed in protest, but Tifa would rather cook these than live ones. They were frozen and probably dead.  
"It doesn't matter!" Tifa said to herself. These were only vegetables, not a frozen human or anything!  
The ice melted pretty quickly and the water did vanish considerably quickly, so Tifa replaced the water and started to mix the vegetables around. She found herself a fish-slice and used that to alternate the vegetables movement. Butter was added at random intervals to add some flavour.  
It wasn't long until they smelt delicious. The aroma of cooked vegetables wafted its way around the kitchen, filling Tifa with hungry thoughts. She glanced at her watch and gasped. She's been at this for almost ten minutes. The children must be starving at this point, but if they were, why hadn't they come down and pester her about their food?_ Maybe they really did miss Cloud._  
Tifa turned off the heat and removed the wok off the hob, vegetables sizzling. She then opened another cupboard and took four plates out and placed them onto the counter. She was about to dish up, but usually both Denzel and Marlene would be eagerly watching her now. As they weren't, Tifa felt a little sad. She didn't want the children to grow up so fast that they would lose interest in her pretty quickly. She wanted them to enjoy both their guardians, forever.  
Tifa sighed. She then went over to the oven and opened the door. A great heat met her face and danced around it in joy, whilst Tifa's hand, covered by a tea-towel, fetched the tray inside. The steaks were done. They were done very well, to be exact. Tifa moved over to the plates and fetched another fish-slice to serve the steaks. One onto each plate. They were small steaks, but they didn't really have much money to afford bigger ones. Usually they would treasure this as a feast, but only Tifa seemed to be here at the moment.  
She found a table spoon and used that to serve an equal amount of vegetables onto each plate.  
"TEA!" she cried, hoping they would all rush down and start wolfing the food down. As Tifa picked up the plates, two to each hand, she heard no one moving. Maybe they were asleep?_ No, they couldn't be asleep._ They knew tea would be ready.  
Tifa moved over to the table and set down all four plates. Still, she could hear no one moving to get down. She fetched cutlery for them all and set those onto the table. Again, Tifa could hear nothing. Not a sound of anybody moving. Now, she would have to investigate. She gathered her will and set out for the stairs.

This was very strange indeed. Why had they ignored Tifa? They were in the house; she had seen them.  
Tifa climbed the stairs two at a time and came to the landing. She stood still, waiting for a sign. Nothing came. She was even surprised Cloud hadn't taken them up into the loft.  
Tifa would have to check all the rooms then, and quickly. Their dinner was getting cold! She walked a few paces to the first door on her left. Pushing the creaky door open, Tifa peered in to find the room empty. This was the store room for their toys. It was bursting with toys, but it didn't contain anyone. Tifa looked outside the window from the doorway. She was surprised to see that autumn had finally decided to take a toll on things. There was a great wind as well, working its way to blow all of the leaves away and bend the trees outside Midgar so they would deposit even more leaves.  
Tifa turned to leave the room and closed the door behind her. The next room was the toilet. It was better thinking to have a bathroom and the toilet separated because of the situations with showers and people bursting for the loo. _Ah, the toilet! But they couldn't all be in there._ Tifa knew how to handle this situation. Stretching out a hand, she rapped her knuckles onto the wooden door. A sound was heard, but was quickly forgotten. There was no reply, so Tifa tried again, with a frown on her face, this time harder. Again, there was no reply. She breathed in and pulled down on the door handle. The door swung open, but there was no one on the toilet. The room was as bare as always. The toilet stood, proudly, with whatever shred of dignity it still had left. There was a toilet paper dispenser on the wall and a toilet paper collector by the toilet. To finish, there was a small window just above the toilet, so if anyone would want to break in, they would first find themselves with a very wet foot, if they're lucky anyway.  
Tifa sighed and hastily closed the room. She then walked across the landing to the next door. Beyond this huge door was the bedroom. Maybe they were all relaxing. _Well, they better blooming well not be!_ Tifa thought to herself, annoyed now at the absence of the family. Grasping the door knob, she turned it counter-clockwise and stepped into the room. All three of them were fast asleep. Tifa couldn't muster the courage to shout at them all anymore. She didn't want to upset them. She walked over to Cloud's sleeping body and stopped, staring wide eyed. She felt an extreme emotion overcome her. He was asleep, after all. The things she could do . . .  
Tifa shook herself vigorously. Now wasn't the time to be driven by hidden desires. She had to get them all up so they could eat their tea. She didn't want them waking up in the middle of the night only to find that they were hungry. They would then go down to the kitchen and mess up all of the neatly arranged equipment and food. _No, this kitchen had to be kept tidy._  
Tifa reached out for Cloud shoulder and felt the heat from his body as she pressed her hand around it. Shaking him a little, Tifa called for him.  
"Cloud," She cried, in a weak voice. "Cloud," She said, getting louder and more concentrated with the shakes.  
He stirred, then turned his body and faced Tifa. His eyes opened suddenly, making Tifa gasp in amazement at his gorgeous blue eyes. He lurched into an upright position and gazed at Tifa.  
"Tifa," he said, surprised at his awakening. She blushed slightly and held her hands behind her back.  
"Dinner's ready," She said, now looking at the floor. Cloud stretched his relaxed muscles and gave a cry.  
"What were you lot sleeping for?" Tifa asked Cloud, staring him up and down. He stretched for a little longer.  
"We were playing sleeping lions." He said with a grin on his face. Clearly he hadn't been participating in this game. He must have fallen asleep because of all the stress from the day.  
"Why are you all sleeping?" Tifa asked him. "With sleeping lions, you're supposed to pretend to be asleep."  
Cloud got to his feet and looked down at his watch.  
"Woops," He said. "We didn't mean to be gone that long!" Tifa shook her head, and then walked towards the children.  
"Denzel, Marlene," She shook them gently as she spoke. They gave a moan and, in slow progress, managed to sit up and yawn.  
"What's going on?" Denzel said, also surprised at his awakening. Tifa chocked back a laugh.  
"Dinner's ready," She said. Cloud had walked over now and was standing next to Tifa.  
"Come on, children. You heard Tifa." they became more alert at Cloud's voice and got up quite quickly.  
"Well, it's about time." Marlene cheekily added.

Reno let out a great shout of joy from his lungs. The wind was lashing against his face, almost determined to pull it off. Both Reno and Rude had gone to the furthest reaches of the garage and chose two of the best motorbikes there. Now they were on the road, zooming their way towards Midgar.  
Rude had been quiet the whole time, not showing any similar signs of excitement from Reno. He was leading the way, and Reno was following suit. Reno didn't have Rude's sense of direction, but he was good at what he did. They had passed a few miles from Healin and were steadily working their way forwards. The leaves of the Autumn were beginning to pile up on the road. They were swept away in one motion as the motorbikes zoomed past; creating a force of air that blew them to the side of the road.  
Little traffic was on the road, so manoeuvring on a bike could be easy. Reno tried just that and zoomed onwards to swerve about on the road. He almost lost his balance and received a loud shout from Rude.  
"RENO!" Rude lectured. "Do you want to kill yourself?!" Reno decreased his speed and retreated behind Rude. He could have injured himself, but he was only playing. What was a long trip without a little fun, after all?


	6. Chapter 5

Cloud, Tifa, Denzel and Marlene spent the next few moments making their way back to the kitchen. As they descended the stairs, Cloud thought about his dream. It was a strange dream, but he could remember it vividly.  
_A world of mist hung before him; his dream world. He had glided up to meet all the characters he had met before in his life. Reeve, Barret, Yuffie, Red XIII, Vincent, Cid, Rufus, Rude, Reno, Tifa, Aerith, Denzel, Marlene, Sephiroth, Zack, Shinra SOLDIERs, Hojo citizens of towns, everyone he had seen passed by. Then he flew into one of his memories._  
_He was in a wheelchair. Cloud had fallen into the Lifestream and had a very high concentration of Mako poisoning. He had been washed up on the shore and the kind people of the village had saved his life, trying their best to nurse him back to health._  
The best part about this memory was that Tifa was standing by him all the time. _She didn't want to leave him – she knew she loved him now, more than anything._  
_Cloud couldn't speak or even breathe properly. He was as limp as a boned fish. Tifa had constantly talked to him to encourage him that he was going to get better and she was there to make him feel better._  
"_Cloud." He heard in his dream. He started to shake lightly._  
"_Cloud!" the same voice sounded again and he started to shake more violently._  
It was at that moment that he had woken up. He realised that Tifa had been calling him because dinner was ready. At least that shaking was in reality. He might have been worried he'd been hearing voices.  
"Did you all have a nice sleep?" Tifa asked them all mockingly. Cloud waited for the children to reply. After a moment, no one did, so he decided to go first.  
"Yes. I remembered our adventures a few years ago." Tifa turned back to him, and then smiled.  
"What about you, children?" Denzel and Marlene looked up, still sleepy.  
"I was on a beach." Denzel said. Marlene was quick to follow.  
"I was in a doll house with more people." They both sounded delightful, so Tifa smiled at them too.  
"That's good, then." She said.  
They had arrived at the first floor, walking towards their dinning area. They all saw the food prepared and done, but Tifa couldn't help worrying that it was cold.  
"Ooh. What is it?" Marlene asked, pulling Tifa's sleeve.  
"We have steak and steam-fry vegetables." She replied.  
Cloud didn't say anything, but seemed cheerful as he sat down to eat, as did Denzel.  
As they all sat down to eat, Tifa smiled at them all.  
"Well, go on then." She said, already expecting them to be eating the food. Cloud took a swig of his drink to start with, and then became more intent with his steak.  
"So, how was this journey of yours, Cloud?" Tifa asked him from across the table. "Do you have anything interesting to tell the children?" Cloud noticed that she had put emphasis on certain words so he would understand what she meant. Tifa wanted him to tell the children all about the beast he had slain – the chocobo eater.  
"Well," Cloud said. "I thought I might have met my end out there." The children stopped eating their vegetables and stared at him in shock.  
"No way!" Denzel replied. Cloud took a mouthful of his steak and chewed it thoroughly.  
"Well, I managed to hire a chocobo to come back to Midgar." Tifa stared at him. She wanted to play along with the children.  
"I thought you were taking a vehicle home with other people." Cloud looked up with a confused expression, until Tifa winked at him, slyly.  
"Oh, yeah. I had to take a stretch because of my legs and the other passengers followed me. We came to a field after a short trek and I saw the chocobo farm. I knew that it would be quicker because I would have to walk right back to the vehicle, so I told them to not follow me and I hired a chocobo." Marlene had scooped up her vegetables onto a fork and then they fell off again, leaving a piece of sweet corn left.  
"Were there a lot of chocobos?" she asked, rather happily. Cloud smiled at her. Marlene always loved animals. Her favourite would have to be the chocobo. She even had an ambition to ride one, but Cloud couldn't see that happening before a few years.  
"There were a lot of chocobos. I chose a gorgeously, golden female and rode her the length of the way here." Marlene's eyes shone with desire. "She made such a good companion." Cloud finished.  
Denzel was trying to finish off the last of his vegetables, but tiny pieces kept being pushed aside, instead of propping up onto the fork. He frowned slightly and looked up at Cloud.  
"Is that all you wanted to tell us?" he asked him, almost mockingly. He wouldn't dare mock Cloud properly. He meant too much to him. Tifa stared at his plate with the bits of vegetable amiss.  
"Use your knife as well, Denzel. You scoop the rest onto your fork. Like this." Tifa did as she said and scooped some vegetables onto her fork with the aid of her knife. Denzel nodded and turned his attention back to Cloud.  
"Well?" he asked, promptly.  
"Denzel," Cloud said. "I wouldn't leave out your best part now, would I?" Denzel dropped his head, and then tried to finish off his vegetables.  
"As I was saying," Cloud continued. "After I hired the lovely chocobo," he turned to Marlene and smiled. "I went on my way and found I was going in the wrong direction." Tifa had a drink, then decided to comment.  
"You were going in the wrong direction?!" Cloud nodded as he continued with his steak.  
"I didn't mean to, of course." He blushed slightly. He hadn't been on a chocobo for a few years now. There was a time when he was completely used to it, but now he was out of practice.  
"I stopped and decided to note where I was, in case I returned. I was just doing this when the ground started to shake." Denzel looked up at Cloud. This was the most gripping part of the story; he could tell. "I heard a roar and I found a large beast looking at me. It was a sight. Great big, ugly and fat it was. There was no doubt about it – I had to get away from this thing, and fast." Marlene was listening too, but she still wasn't showing as much interest as Denzel. She was more concerned of the chocobo than a fat beast.  
"What happened next?" Tifa asked as she started on her steak. Her feelings of annoyance towards them all from earlier had vanished as she kept listening to his story. She was interested, of course, and she showed the greatest interest between them all.  
Cloud smiled at them all, already expecting them to know what happened next. It should have been obvious, but he didn't want to ruin a surprise if they didn't know already.  
"I forced the chocobo to high speed and then I rushed towards some trees." Marlene gasped and looked up at Cloud. She was afraid the chocobo wasn't going to make it. "I went into the trees for cover and then I heard the beast thud onto the ground after whacking its head onto a thick branch." Denzel jeered at this, making Tifa stare at him in surprise.  
"What was that about, Denzel?" she asked. Denzel smiled at them all.  
"I was glad the beast didn't get them." He blushed and realised he'd been quite a fool. Being sociable with adults was more difficult than Denzel first thought.  
"Anyway," Cloud said to retrieve their attention. "I searched for the beast and kept thrashing at it with my sword. Eventually the beast realised it was being attacked, and decided to hit back. It threw me up into the air and I charged up some Materia to force in its direction." Cloud paused. He was aware of the reactions of his audience. Tifa and Marlene gasped, while Denzel showed a common interest.  
"Go on, Cloud." Tifa had halted her steak cutting and, like Denzel, was showing a lot more interest. Cloud cleared his throat and continued.  
"After I hit it with my Materia strike, it vanished, but I knew that couldn't have killed it – the power was too weak. So I searched for it again, but it grabbed me from behind. The beast raised me over its mouth and I thought those were my last moments." Everyone gasped at Cloud's story. They couldn't believe he could be tricked so easily. He seemed so good at what he does; you'd think he was the best. Well, Tifa thought. With Sephiroth gone, he is the best!  
Cloud beamed at them all. He knew they were waiting for the finishing touch, so he waited to raise a little tension. After a moment or two of silence and returning gazes, he continued.  
"I am so thankful to that chocobo. She saved my life. The beast looked in her direction when she cooed and I had my chance to break free of his grip and deal some damage. I jumped into the air and, as I was falling, pointed my sword into his mouth, bracing myself for the final blow. I stopped in its mouth and thrust the sword through its head." Denzel began to clap and so did the others. Cloud smiled broadly and took a swig of his drink.  
"That was great, Cloud." Tifa said as both children wondered what they were going to do now. They looked at each other and began to laugh.  
"What?" Tifa asked them, staring them up and down. They continued laughing which made Tifa smile. Tifa looked at Cloud, expecting him to see the root of their problem, but instead he was mixing the remaining drink in his glass.  
"I'll go fetch some more." Tifa told him. She needed more drink as well, but it was easier for Tifa to go then Cloud. Picking herself up, Tifa left the spacious room.

* * *

_Bravo, Cloud! Bravo._ Tifa's thoughts were still lingering on Cloud's impressive story. She had forgotten her feelings towards him from previously and had controlled them without much hassle. Walking her way over to the store room on the ground level, Tifa looked at the door in dismay. It was open.  
"I'm sure I closed that." She said to herself, convinced the children opened it. Gingerly pushing the door away from herself, Tifa looked into the black abyss that hung before her. Keeping her gaze ahead, she extended a hand to her left and her fingers soon found a light switch. Tifa pushed the button and a few lights in the room lit up. Some of the bulbs had blown, but there were still three working properly.  
The storage room wasn't small or very big, but at least it did what it was supposed to do. Rows of several shelves stood, carrying so many items, they were sure to collapse any second. The walls were typical walls of the slums, but they weren't even decorated. Cloud didn't think it was appropriate to put wallpaper on these walls because they were so dirty and this room wasn't going to be used very often. Tifa just thought this was a male response, so agreed with him, just to stop him from yammering.  
Tifa searched the shelves for the bottles. A few boxes and items were lying on the floor, and Tifa wondered how on earth they could have got there. She walked down the final isle to find a few bottles left of their favourite wine.  
"This isn't going to last long, then." Tifa said, not to herself, but to Cloud. Whenever Tifa was alone, she would imagine Cloud's responses to the things she said, and over time, it became a habit. There was a crash and a rummaging sound, and then Tifa forgot about the bottle and focused on the noise.  
"Hello?" she called. If it was anyone in the house, they would reply to her, and if they didn't . . .  
"Hello?" she called again, completely sure it was an intruder. No-one replied, so Tifa pulled out her leather fighting cloves and stretched them onto her hands. She walked to the end row and, slowly, began to search each aisle. For the first aisle, there was nothing amiss; the same went for the next three aisles. As Tifa reached the next row of shelves, she found boxes on the floor as if they had been thrown or had accidentally been knocked. Tifa's caution didn't waver, but she then looked around hastily for someone or something that had caused this.  
Tifa peered closer at the boxes. They were supposed to be on the shelf storing important items. Perhaps the intruder wanted to make her come over here for a reason. As soon as Tifa thought this, she back-flipped out the way as a huge net, complete with weights, thudded to the floor, narrowly missing her. She became aware that this was an intruder and they did know what they were doing. They were doing it for a reason, and she had to find out what.  
The room remained silent for a moment or two, and then Tifa heard a faint sigh. A sigh she had never heard before, almost silent. She whizzed around and was almost met by the sharp edge of a scimitar. Time went still for the briefest of moments, and then she knew she had to do something.  
Aiming a series of consecutive strikes in the intruder's direction, Tifa was happy to see him retreating. She jumped off the wall and kept kicking at his face, while the intruder struggled to touch her with his sword. He thrashed both arms wildly, planning to break free of the onslaught. His long sleeved cloak was preventing him from doing much more than he already was.  
Tifa started to punch, but was soon sent backwards as a vast surge of power was directed at her. She grunted and pain shot through her entire body. Tifa flipped as she flew backwards and regained her balance. She noted that the power surge had caused two of the shelves to smash and the rest of them fall to the ground like a series of dominoes. This was the brief moment to inspect the intruder.  
The man was wearing a long sleeved cloak and had his scimitar in one hand. A black hood covered his face, but Tifa didn't recognise him. Not at all. Tifa concentrated on the pain in her body and used her already equipped Restore Materia to start the healing process. Just as she did this, the man rushed forward, faster than the blink of an eye. Tifa managed to spot this and barrel-rolled to her side. She turned around to see that he was doing the same move over and over. A power of some kind kept him going, but Tifa wouldn't be able to avoid him forever. She barrel-rolled one last time, then jumped over his head as he proceeded and grabbed his collar through the cloak. She managed to put all her effort into it and threw the man across the room.  
"YARGH!" she cried, almost expecting the intruder to be surprised at her attack. She had tired, but she could last for a bit longer.  
The man was lying on the floor, motionless, but Tifa was wiser. She knew that he couldn't be defeated – those were just above basic moves. Tifa stayed put, and was right to do so as the man raised himself again and threw half of a shelf towards her with supreme strength. This was all done with lightning quick reactions, and Tifa's lightning quick response saved her from more pain. She raised her arm and batted the shelf away, forcing it to break and crumble to the floor in the process.  
The man was still in the same spot. Unlike a previous battle, he didn't proceed, so Tifa decided it was her time to advance and attack. She pulled up her fists and ran towards the man. He was surprised and stepped back a few paces. Tifa didn't falter with her attack; she kept going and then she hit him. A powerful blow cast to his head had made Tifa realise that either he had a hard head, or he was wearing a helmet. She expected it to be the latter, so she repeated her powerful strikes to the man's head.  
He didn't move. He just stood there.  
"Okay, this is kinda scary." Tifa said to herself as she backed away. She realised that the man had stopped moving completely. A clicking noise began to irritate Tifa, but she couldn't believe where it was coming from. It came from the man. Tifa walked back over to him and clasped her hands on the edges of his cloak. As she pulled it off, she gasped and jumped back as a robotic-like face stared back at her. Its face was big and metallic, almost like a person, but with a much denser material covering it. His eyes were closed and Tifa didn't want it to turn on again; if it really was a robot. An urging voice in her head made Tifa decide the next possible action. She was standing in the room, gawping at a 'robot' when she should be telling someone something very important. Go tell Cloud! You must tell Cloud!  
Tifa turned away from the 'robot' and ran as fast as she could back to the kitchen. Too many thoughts rushed through her head, but she couldn't do anything about them. She continued to run towards the kitchen and then stopped in alarm. Everything was on the floor. It looked as if someone had deliberately knocked everything off and had caused quite a stir. Tifa was thinking of something worse – the children were gone. Cloud was gone and something wasn't quit right. It was as if someone had something against them.  
"Denzel?! Marlene?!" Tifa called out to them both, unaware of the impending dangers awaiting her. In answer to her call, a smashing sound of wood caught Tifa's attention. She looked over to her right and saw a dust cloud dispersing. A shadow inside that cloud was moving around; searching for something, or someone.  
"Yes?" the voice which responded was very deep and metallic. It was as if the voice was artificial and didn't belong to the owner. It was a fearful voice which sent a deep chill down Tifa's spine. Tifa had to do something about this, and fast. She thought ahead and quickly ducked down to hide behind a counter. As she predicted, the dust cloud dispersed entirely and the figure left standing was similar to the one Tifa fought previously. He wasn't wearing a cloak, but was standing tall and proud. The face of the 'robot' was almost like a human face, but the rest of his body was not. The 'man' was completely naked, but something about his skin made Tifa's own skin crawl. It was constructed of metal-like substances which covered his muscles and joints and looked very difficult to damage, let alone destroy. And a pale, green-brown colour made it look even worse.  
Tifa gasped and her heart-rate quickened, steeply. The 'man' kept looking around but didn't notice Tifa. She peered out at him and planned her best move. What could she do now? There was a strange man in the room with her and it looked extremely dangerous.  
The man then walked forwards, past Tifa and looked to the corridor she had just come from. _This is your chance! RUN!_ Tifa's mind had decided its course before Tifa could ponder a thought. Her legs moved by their own accord and she quickly ran towards the flight of stairs in front of her. She daren't look back. If the man was watching her, she didn't want to look back at its face; the face which held no mercy whatsoever.  
Tifa presumed the others were upstairs. If they had to get away fast, they would either go outside or upstairs. They would have had no time to tell Tifa, so they thought she would be okay. Tifa leapt up the last lot of stairs and cautiously searched the landing.  
"Denzel? Marlene?" Tifa called to them, only this time a little quieter. Tifa's heart then skipped a beat. She had just heard her voice call for the children again, but she didn't do it this time. It came from behind her; the voice of the 'man'.  
"Denzel?! Marlene?!" The 'man's' voice sounded identical to Tifa's. The real Tifa ran forward and searched all the rooms quickly. She had to find the children – and fast! Searching the toilet, the bedroom, the bathroom and the toy room, Tifa couldn't see them at all. She was about to give up hope, when she realised her next destination - the attic. If they weren't in any of the rooms, they'd be in the attic. Tifa braced herself for the jump and her clothes rippled with the effort. As her feet touched the floor, she turned on the light, quickly.  
"Denzel? Marlene?" Tifa called, frantically. She knew the man would follow her voice, but she didn't care. Finding the children would be the top priority. No one answered her. Not a single voice replied to Tifa's call, making her lose control over her emotions.  
"CLOUD!" she screamed. _If the children were in danger, it was his fault._ He should have taken them to a better hiding place. More importantly, he should be fighting the man, or men, if there were any more.  
Tifa thought of her next possible actions. If she was going to do something, it had to happen fast. Maybe she could find something in the attic. Tifa quickly pondered for a moment, then realised the Materia box they kept up here. Tifa ran through all the muddled objects on the floor and searched vigorously for the box. It wasn't her own box with her personal belongings. It was another box, one which was always secret.  
Spotting a corner of a silvery box poke out from under some junk on a shelf, Tifa thought about which Materia to take. They were quite similar to robots, so she could use . . . Thunder Materia. She grabbed the handle of the box and hauled it down onto the floor. It thudded and the ground wobbled briefly from the weight. Tifa ripped open the lid and rummaged for some Thunder Materia. She saw Summonings (which she didn't really want to use as they would obliterate Seventh Heaven), Blizzards, Add Status Materia and other ones, and then she found a Thunder Materia right at the bottom. Tifa added the Materia to her armour and scanned it, briefly. The Thunder Materia could cast Thunder and Thundara, but not Thundaga – the best Thunder magic. She could use it and keep the strange men at bay.  
"You'd better be prepared, Cloud." Tifa told herself.

The windy weather had made a perfect distraction of noise for Reno to enter the building. Rude had decided to make him go first, then follow if it was safe enough.  
"You try clamming in through a window, then." Reno's sarcastic tone was even present then. Rude followed him inside and regained his lost balance. Both of them exchanged looks for some time, then they thought back to the job at hand.  
"So where was this crate, again?" Reno asked. Rude shrugged and looked around the room they were in.  
"By the looks of it, someone's beaten us to it." They were standing in a room containing shattered shelves and various objects. It seemed to be a storeroom of some sort.  
"Who d'ya recon that is?" Reno asked, pointing to a figure on the floor. "I hope it's Cloud." He said, forcing Rude to cast him a despiteful look. After closer examination, Rude got to his feet again.  
"It's not Cloud. Some sort of robotic looking man. Maybe even an android." Reno looked a bit worried at this comment, then cooled his expression.  
"Let's just hope there was only the one." Rude nodded and then walked over to the door. It was open, so they didn't have to force entry.  
As they walked down the corridor from the room, they started to feel a deep presence about them. It was something scary, so they both braced themselves. Reno wielded his metal rod, whereas Rude pulled up his fists. They cautiously continued, until they heard Tifa's voice from around the corner.  
"Denzel?! Marlene?!" Reno smiled and walked on. As he went around the corner, he became as stiff as a board. Standing in front of him was a robot-like man with a rather menacing face. This wasn't Tifa at all. What could be going on?  
"Reno?" he looked back and found Rude making a fuss, as usual. Rude then jumped forward and started to launch a punch at the 'man'. The man caught the punch and started adding strength of its own to twist Rude's hand. Reno didn't hang around. He jumped over them both and yelled as he swung his metal pole at the man's head. To his surprise, he ducked and Reno's attack landed on Rude's head with a loud, resounding thump. He fell over and the strange man then turned towards Reno. Reno closed his eyes and braced himself.  
Even before he could do anything, he felt magic being used. A rumbling sound made him realise that it was close. The Thunder hit the man and he fell over quickly.  
Reno opened one eye, then the other. The 'man' was temporarily on the floor and Rude had regained his balance and was rubbing the side of his head. His glasses had smashed from the impact, so he cast those aside and pulled out a new set from his blazer pocket. Reno looked behind him and was grateful to see the real Tifa looking at them both. Her arm had a faint, distinctive glow and Reno realised she was the reason for the magic; she had Materia.  
"Hey. Thanks for that." He said. Tifa looked a bit dazed, almost as if she were about to fall over.  
"So, evil 'men' turn up the same time you also appear. Care to explain?" Tifa's voice was very authoritative. She wasn't going to take too kindly to their arrival yet; they did, as she said, happen to appear the same time as the strange men. Reno's face showed a series of emotions, and then he ran his hands through his hair. Rude stood still and turned away, almost ignoring Tifa.  
"Well?" She said, more imposing. Reno jumped.  
"These things – these 'men' – have nothin' to do with us. We, err, saw you were in danger and, urm, wanted to come and help."  
"We figured you could use a hand." Rude added. Tifa seemed to consider this for a moment, then the wall next to them seemed to explode. A bodily figure shot its way past their sight and hit the opposite wall. It fell straight to the floor and didn't move. Reno, Rude and Tifa all stared at the body as if it were a puppet show. Something else had to follow it.  
"Hey, urm, Tifa? We -"  
"I don't want to hear why you're here, just help me find Cloud and the children." Rude gulped and Reno hesitated. If they were to get the chest, now would be the opportune moment. If they helped Tifa and the strange men went away, they couldn't take the chest as surreptitiously.  
Tifa walked over to the freshly made hole in the wall and peered inside it. Reno racked his brain for a route they could follow.  
"Hey, urm, Tifa? Where d'ya get that Materia?" Tifa didn't turn, but spoke clearly through the dust.  
"In the attic, there's a big chest of Materia. You can't miss it." Rude had ran off even before she had finished speaking. Reno gave Tifa her thanks and ran after him.  
The Materia was theirs.


	7. Chapter 6

Cloud lunged his Buster Sword again at another oncoming 'man'. They just kept coming. He had managed to hide the children and was defending them with his life. Another man ran forward and Cloud unleashed his anger into a fifteen hit combo on him. The sword sliced and chopped and thrashed, ignoring defences and for the final blow, he lunged the sword straight towards the strange man's chest. Instead of going into the man, it didn't even penetrate. The Buster Sword hit hard and static noises emanated, but Cloud had to focus on the bigger picture – twenty or so strange men still remained, standing around him in a big circle, all eager to tear, to spill blood, to fight Cloud. He was panting loudly and couldn't dare to have a rest. If he did, the children would probably be killed, along with himself.  
"You will give us what we need." A static and metallic voice appeared out of nowhere and addressed Cloud as if he weren't someone to trifle with.  
"You'll have to go through me!" Cloud returned. No voice answered, but Cloud knew they would soon show themselves.  
His Buster Sword didn't falter as he cast a full blow to another's head. The man rolled over to one side, only to find the sword had devoured an arm. Cloud could have done better if he had two swords, so he decided to quickly unclick one from the whole piece. He weighed it in his free hand and smiled slightly. If his Buster Sword could slice off an arm, then clearly the arms weren't as strong as the head, or the body.  
"What is it you're so keen about?" the voice returned. Cloud was unable to avoid it. He knew that if he couldn't get all the strange men, something bad could happen.  
"Kill him." The voice, Cloud realised, was supposed to invoke fear into people. It was working on the children, but Cloud had to stay strong. For all their sakes.  
All of the men took a step forward and Cloud thought of all the ways he could destroy them quickly. He tightened his grip on both swords and started to run around them, thrashing wildly. He also threw in a few more complex moves, to really deal some damage. He kept rushing round, not bothering to come to a halt. If all the men remained, what was the point of stopping?  
A foot shot its way out and tripped Cloud onto the floor. He fell with a loud thud and could tell he was going to get hurt. The men didn't wait for him to realise what they were going to do, but quickly jumped on top of him, to stop him from breathing and to apply a huge amount of pressure. Pain shot its way all through Cloud's body and he realised a few ribs were broken. The pressure coming from the men was immense. They truly did want something, but Cloud was too late. A simple mistake had cost him his life. His breathing slowed as he struggled to take proper breaths from the weight above him. Air was getting scarce, and nothing could be done.  
"Ha-ha-ha! I hope you enjoy your death." The voice wasn't as loud, or as clear as before, but almost silent and hard to hear. Giving Cloud a spurt of hatred, he put all his effort, his adrenaline, his strength into pushing some of the men away to get air. His desire for life, freedom, escape from pain. The men moved reluctantly, but Cloud was too late. Not enough oxygen had reached his lungs in time. His vision failed and he could hear laughing echoing around him.

Tifa had moved onwards from the hole in the wall. She couldn't see anyone, but only feel Cloud's presence ahead. A heavy thump made Tifa realise that he was fighting a man, but then hearing an echo of footsteps, Tifa was sure he was fending off loads.  
"Kill him." A voice rang out. It was static and metallic. Tifa froze in fear and realised the seriousness of the situation. _They could kill Cloud. I can't let that happen!_ Tifa thought. _I won't let that happen!_ She heard the sound of his sword hacking at metal, and realised they were all going for him. Tifa turned the corner and gasped. Twenty or so men were standing around him, ready to kill. Her strength faltered only for a second, then she knew she had to help him.

Tifa was about to call Cloud, to let him know she was here, but a hand covered her mouth. She thrashed with all her strength, but as it the man's strength was holding her, she couldn't get free. Tifa could only watch with increasing anticipation. Cloud then tripped up and landed on the floor. The men all jumped on top of him and Tifa felt spurred on by the sight. She called on the Materia and Thunder shot its way to her captor. His hands came loose and he stepped backwards in alarm. Tifa had no time to ponder his strength, and so rushed forwards to try and help Cloud any way she could. She used her Materia over and over. The men fell limp and then Tifa realised it was hopeless. She tried pulling away at them all, but she was only restrained again by the same captor as before.  
"I'm going to have to keep my eyes on you!" he said. He grabbed hold of Tifa's arm and, as Tifa was struggling from the grip, pulled out the Materia. Tifa's emotions rushed around like tempestuous storm, and she felt a tear drop down her cheek. The man started to laugh and another tear joined the first.  
"Well, we can't have you with this now, can we?" Tifa didn't respond, but almost broke down in tears. She closed her eyes and tried to draw on some strength from thoughts. All she could think about was the current situation. How this would end. How Tifa could possibly save Cloud. She felt herself being pulled along and thrown onto the floor. The man loosened his grip and walked away. Tifa then realised her hands were bound with tight rope. Solely running away wasn't such a good idea after all, so she stayed put and wrestled with her breathing.  
Tifa heard the man – her captor say one last thing which shot out at her strength.  
"Ha-ha-ha! I hope you enjoy your death." Tifa forced herself onto her feet and called on her anger to drive the strength in her body. How dare he talk to Cloud like that! He had no right to give or take life as he pleased. He was an intruder. Tifa should end his life now, and as quickly as possible. As he laughed over and over, she saw the pile of bodies move slightly and a familiar face pop out, gasping for air. Cloud's head then dropped to the floor.  
He can't be dead. Tifa thought to herself, over and over.  
"AARRGH!" she cried in anger and exasperation. Her bound hands went over the man's head and she tightened them around his neck. She pulled harder and harder, while thoughts were pondering the end result.  
"You . . . ca . . . nnot kill . . . me." His voice struggled, but it still sounded as strong as ever. Tifa gasped in fear and tightened the strength of the strangulation. She was amazed that it was working, and was sure she would have succeeded, if it hadn't been for the large explosive sound and the sight of Reno and Rude riding away on two motorbikes, whilst carrying a chest between them.  
Tifa heart sank and her strength waned. The strange man used this as a distraction to turn around and throw Tifa across the room. His strength was beyond anything she understood and as she crashed through the wall, her failing sight only made it worse; all the men she had defeated had stood up and were gathering around as if they hadn't been injured at all.

"Yeah! That was too easy!" Reno's overjoyed voice was the first to be heard. Both Reno and Rude had just taken the box of Materia and exploded their way out of Seventh Heaven. It didn't go to plan, but it went even better. They were sure the Turks would help them, but they didn't know how wrong they were.  
"We should have helped them." Rude said. Reno knew he was right, but couldn't face telling the truth.  
"Nonsense. We got what we came for. If they were in trouble, that's their own fault and problem." Rude remained silent. He was unable to speak to Reno when he was like this. He found it difficult and hard bearing. Why didn't Reno just understand like he did? Maybe some day Reno would see where he was going wrong, and actually show maturity. Well, Rude thought. I've been wrong before . . .  
The motorbikes had reached the road now and were heading out of Midgar. They didn't notice the vast flying craft towering over the town, though. They were more concerned about the road. They drove on and moved leaves into a swirl of wind from the energy from their motorbikes. Again, not a lot of traffic was about, but then again, it was an evening. When they were coming down this road before, the pavement had been over-crowded with civilians.  
"How d'ya think Rufus will praise us? Maybe a pay rise? Something subtle? Maybe our own Materia of our choice." Rude sighed and continued without speaking. Reno might be disappointed. He always underestimated Rufus. He might say 'Thanks,' then simply walk away. The possibilities were endless, but at least they got the job done. The Healin Lodge was a few miles away. Quite far from Midgar. Rude sighed a much deeper sigh and continued on.

When Cloud's eyes finally opened, he was greeted with the pleasant sight of Denzel. He was unharmed. Cloud sat up with a great deal of effort and looked around. The men had gone and Marlene was fussing over Tifa. Marlene was also unharmed. Tifa! Cloud felt a wave of emotions and tried to get up. As he did so, his body racked with pain.  
"Ouch!" he said. Denzel grimaced.  
"Are you all right, Cloud?" he asked. Cloud took his time to answer. What should he say? _'Yes, but no?' 'No, I'm not?' 'I'm hurt – badly?'_ He couldn't decide.  
"I'm hurt, but I'm fine. Worry about Tifa." Cloud lay back down on the floor and closed his eyes with a grimace. The pain was bearable, but only just.  
"Denzel? When did the men leave?" Denzel didn't realise he was being talked to. He turned Cloud's way.  
"Oh," he said. "I, urm, think they went a while ago. Urm, about twenty minutes. They were carrying something with them. It was something of ours." Cloud opened his eyes.  
"Ours? What was it?" Denzel frowned as he tried to remember.  
"I think it was Tifa's box." At the mention of her name, Tifa sat up and looked around.  
"Denzel! Marlene! You're both okay. And Cloud! You're alive!" Her voice was cheerful but contained a hint of hesitation. Cloud persuaded Denzel to go tell Tifa. As he walked over, Tifa smiled.  
"Yes, Denzel?" again, there was a hint of hesitation.  
"I think the men took something of yours." Tifa's smile faded and the colour drained from her face. She knew what Denzel was going to say next, and felt dizzy.  
"They took your box." Tifa fell back onto the floor. She couldn't believe this was happening. She felt sick at that point, but it was probably her imagination. Of all the things to happen at the present time, why did this have to be the one?  
"We have to get it back." Tifa told everyone. Cloud looked around at them all.  
"Denzel?" he turned round to face Cloud. "Could you get my Buster Sword for me?" Denzel did as instructed and set it down beside Cloud. Cloud reached over to it and a bright green glow emitted from the inside of his hand. He had pulled something out of his sword. Materia. This wasn't just any old Materia – this was Restore Materia. By using this, both Cloud and Tifa would be on their feet in no time.  
Cloud called upon the magic in the Materia and cast it upon himself. He could only heal one person at a time because there was no All Materia around. All Materia allowed the conjurer to cast the paired magic on all of the allies at the same time. But as the box of Materia was also gone, they had no chance of finding an All Materia.  
Cloud used the magic with haste and was glad to accept his broken ribs repaired. After healing his body enough, he called Tifa, who looked up at him and threw the Materia for her to catch. Tifa caught it with precision and cried out in pain. Everyone asked her if she was all right, and Tifa dismissed them with a quick nod of her head.  
Cloud picked himself up and began to stretch. He looked over at Tifa who was healing herself, with the aid of Marlene and decided to speak.  
"So, what's so important about this box of yours?" Tifa remained quiet for a while, until she knew she was completely healed. Afterwards, she told Marlene to check on Denzel and herself and to heal if necessary. She stood up herself and gave a yawn and a stretch.  
"It contains important items." Cloud didn't find this a good enough answer, but dismissed it with a quick swipe of his hand through the air. Suddenly, as if just being switched on, Cloud heard a faint beeping sound. It was a sound he had never heard whilst being here and was sure it wasn't theirs.  
"Hold on. Can you hear that?" Tifa shook her head. Her expression was all serious now. Even Cloud was serious. He kept turning his head this way and that to find the source of the beeping.  
"What is it, Cloud?" Tifa asked. Cloud didn't know, so there was little point in answering.  
"Wait. It's coming from the kitchen." Tifa looked surprised, then gasped.  
"Cloud, I can hear it too. What is that?" Cloud remained silent. "Denzel? Marlene? You better come with us." As if on cue, they pulled out of the corner and trotted beside Tifa. Cloud walked on ahead to try and find the source of the beeping noise.  
"I hope this isn't too bad." Tifa told him. Denzel and Marlene were now pestering Tifa with questions.  
"What are we doing?"  
"What's that beeping sound?"  
"Are we going to be alright?"  
"Is it something for us?"  
"Is it another man? I hope not! Denzel, hide me!" Tifa sighed.  
"Stop asking such silly questions. There are no more mans here." They walked on in silence for the next minute, until Cloud stopped before the counter where, he was sure, the noise was coming from. He gestured towards the counter with a finger.  
"It's here." He whispered.  
"Why are we whispering?" Marlene called over to him. Cloud smiled that comment off and carefully peered over the counter. As soon as he did so, he jumped back in shock.  
"What is it, Cloud?" Tifa asked him. Cloud was now shaking uncontrollably. He was trying to come to a decision, but he couldn't. He had to save them all.  
"Get out! GET OUT! RUN FOR YOUR LIVES! IT'S A BOMB!" Cloud's voice rebounded off the walls a few times before they got the message. They were frozen in fear, so Cloud had to drag them all out.  
"Come on," he shouted. "Get to the garage! My motorbike!" Tifa suddenly realised the seriousness of the situation and picked up Marlene. Cloud followed suit and picked up Denzel. They both ran with the children in their arms towards the garage in the hope that they would all live.  
"I need to get my things!" Denzel said. He couldn't leave them all behind – they'd get destroyed. Marlene was also being affected by this. There were so many things in the house which they would all want to take, but they just couldn't.  
"COME ON!" Cloud boomed at them. "We can't take anything. The bomb will explode by the time you've laden your arms." Cloud was right, but the children didn't want to be wrong. They continued whinging, arrogant to the fact that they could all be killed in the next few moments. Cloud and Tifa carried the children to the garage door and rammed into it. The door came off its hinges with little resistance and flew to the other end of the room. The garage was a concrete interior with pieces of metal and mechanical parts littered all over the floor. A small window on the left hand side cast the remainder of the night's light into the room. The light cast blue reflections on the metal in its path. The door to the garage was large and basic metal. It could open quickly if it was barged down, or if the switch at the side was pushed.  
Standing proudly, ready to set off was Cloud's motorbike. It was the best make around and could hold all of Cloud's multiple swords. This was extremely handy and something which had saved Cloud's life many a time.  
"Get on! All of you!" Cloud urged them all onto the motorbike and ran to the door. He hastily pressed the open button, then ran back to the motorbike. The key was then inserted to the lock and twisted so the engine came alive. Marlene screamed as Cloud twisted the accelerator and wheeled the motorbike out from the garage. They moved with extreme speed, but Cloud had no idea how big the explosion was going to be.  
A strong wind whipped at their faces and pulled at their clothes. The slums were resting, peacefully, out of harms way and the full moon was standing still, giving a hard stare to all that dared look. Tifa looked behind at Seventh Heaven as Cloud kept speeding off, away from harm's reach. The ground shook violently and the motorbike wobbled off course for a brief moment. A great booming sound erupted behind them and Tifa felt a tear drop down her cheek. All their hard work out into Seventh Heaven had been in vain. It now lay in burning ruins. The only way for them was to go on.

Reno walked proudly towards the first door of the Healin Lodge. He was sure Rufus would praise them for their efforts and give them extra pay for pulling off the mission. Rude struggled up behind him, carrying the whole box. The strain on his face was evident that the weight was too much. But without a loud sound, Rude made it to the door. Reno ignored his bright red face and continued onwards. He inhaled a large breath, let it out, and strolled in through the door. As Reno walked in, the door slammed back into Rude's face, which knocked him onto the floor. Reno ignored him still, too intent on Rufus' actions.  
"Rufus?" he called, triumphantly. There was a moments silence, and then a rapping sound of knuckles on wood. Rude had open the door and pushed Reno aside.  
"Hey! Watch it!" Rude blushed and then dropped the box onto the floor. A thud followed.  
"Rufus?" Reno called again, still ignoring Rude. He was massaging his own hands and had pulled up a chair. Reno was about to call again, when Rude interrupted.  
"Just look for him." Reno turned to his direction, then smirked.  
"I've just had a brilliant idea! I'll look for him. It would save us time and my breath." Rude frowned at him for saying this, but, as said, Reno walked towards the next room to look for Rufus. He pushed open a door and called. Silence followed again, and the rapping sound could be heard again.  
"I'm guessing he's in his bedroom." Reno said to himself. He proceeded in that direction and rapped on the door.  
"Come in," the voice sounded a bit more cheerful from the last time he had heard it. Maybe Rufus was so happy to have the mission completed, after all.  
"Hey, boss," there was no reply. "We've got that box you wanted! Come see." Nothing happened for some time, and then Reno was about to walk off. The door opened quickly and Rufus was edging himself forwards in his wheelchair.  
"Where's this box, then?" Reno smiled and pushed his wheelchair into the entrance hall direction. As they turned the corner, his smile grew to huge admiration as Rude opened the lid, revealing hundreds of Materia. Rufus turned himself around and Reno was about to protest.  
"You fools you've taken the wrong chest! Now the others have the right one!" Reno slapped his forehead and Rude collapsed onto the floor.

As the motorbike zoomed along, the air forced its way past the four passengers. Marlene was clinging onto Tifa with her life. She was afraid that the wind would take a natural toll and push her into flight. Denzel was clinging onto Cloud, but his expression was ecstatic. He was overjoyed to finally get to ride on Cloud's motorbike. The whole bar blowing up had made its way out of his mind, into nothing. However, the image was still clear in both Cloud's and Tifa's minds. Tifa was crying, in front of Marlene and she knew bad things were going to happen from now on; bad things which they might not even be able to control. Cloud thought deeply. He was unsure where to go next and didn't quite know if they were going anywhere in particular. Cloud just went one direction, unable to come to a proper decision. At one point, he even narrowly missed an elderly man who was crossing at a fork in the road.  
The worst thing would have to be the pain that shot at the back of their throats. It was a pain which would force them to cry; a pain which was best avoided. Even the air wasn't on their side. Stenches of anything imaginable where flying around, almost as if they were following them.  
"Cloud, where are we going?" Tifa asked, after her tears had stopped and when she hadn't the faintest idea where they were. Cloud replied, but it wasn't a reply which would usually give hope.  
"I don't know," he said. Tifa must have thought something was wrong because she asked him. Cloud shook his head. His hair was like a golden, fiery bush in the wind. Skewing off at random tangents; becoming more uncontrollable.  
Cloud went past another park and then realised where he could take everyone. It was so simple, he hadn't thought of it earlier. In his excitement, he reeled the motorbike round and started off in the other direction.  
"Hey," Tifa said, clearly bemused. "Where are we going now?"  
"To Aerith's mother's," Cloud said. "Do you object?" Tifa did nothing of the sort. She nodded briefly and agreed. Marlene, who had been clinging onto Tifa for dear life, had perked up slightly.  
"I've been there, before." She told them. They already knew this, and the time wasn't right for over-exaggeration, so they agreed in the briefest of moments.  
"Hold on," Denzel thought it his turn now. "Do I have a say in this?" The answer was out, even before the wind could blow it away. Both Cloud and Tifa were followed by Marlene's voice in a chorus of "No,"  
"No way! That's not fair!" Denzel sighed and then returned his attention back to the scenery surrounding them.  
"We'll be there in around fifteen minutes, if you're lucky." Cloud said. Everyone returned back to their stances and their tasks. The wind blew up a strong wind and it followed them for the whole journey.  
Fifteen minutes later however, they hadn't arrived. The process had been slow and, for some reason, time had gone fast. The wind was still lashing at them all and the cold had taken a toll.  
"W-why aren-t-t we t-t-h-ere ye-et?" Denzel asked through clenched teeth. He was shivering and Marlene was doing likewise.  
"W-we alm-m-ost are," she told him. Tifa thought Marlene optimistic, but decided they would talk between themselves. She decided to let Cloud and herself take a long break.  
Trees, slum buildings and various people whizzed passed as they went on, but the journey continued for another ten minutes. It seemed as though Cloud was taking the long way, rather than shortcuts. Tifa didn't question him; he'd been to that house several times before. He should know the way.  
With nothing more to do, Tifa stared at Cloud from behind. She decided he looked rather fetching with his golden, spiky hair gently billowing in the wind and his nice, warm top. Tifa's hair was doing nothing of the sort. Her long, dark piece was thrashing about wildly, as if it wanted the wind to carry it away on a far-off journey. Tifa tried to ignore this, but it didn't help when the wind suddenly changes and it stung into her face.

Around five minutes later, the area began to look somewhat familiar. Tifa began to notice trees which she's sworn to have seen before. And as the motorbike pulled off of the road, onto the earth, Tifa remembered this area vividly. They had definitely gone the long way round. Tifa decided Cloud didn't want to get caught up in the after shock of the explosion. The dust had settled rapidly and most of the slums had now gone to investigate.  
"Hey," Marlene pulled at Tifa's sleeve. She turned around and looked in the direction she was pointing. "There's one of our customers." Marlene said. Tifa nodded, solemnly.  
Cloud remained silent and continued. With the streets clear, he could move a lot faster. He told the others to hand on and then sped up extremely. Everyone screamed with the force and clung onto each other. Fine dust from the dry mud on the ground blew up in a cloud behind them as they went. The wind carried it forward, but it couldn't catch up. It was only when the motorbike stopped and the key was turned, that the powerful engine whistled in delight that the dust cloud caught up. It swept over them and held tight.  
"Where . . . are we?" Marlene asked as she coughed, hard. Everyone was doing the same, so as Tifa replied, Cloud went to fetch his swords.  
"We're here . . . Marlene, sweetie." Denzel beamed at Tifa.  
"Yes, please!" They coughed for the next moment, until Cloud swung his Buster Sword over his head and drove the dust cloud away. It vanished in a matter of moments. Denzel asked without pause. "Where are the sweets?" Tifa laughed and Marlene chuckled slightly. He looked surprised. "What? What is it?" Cloud sighed and then they stopped their little game.  
"Can we move on, please?" Everyone nodded and soon they were on their way.

* * *


	8. Chapter 7

They didn't walk very far until they noticed the different scenery. Where a vast field of various coloured flowers would stand, now lay the last of them. The whole field was dry mud, except from the waterfall that flushed great water down a gaping hole, just so it could hide. The waterfall was gushing from the top of a minute mountain, just behind the house. It was the only part in Midgar which still seemed strange after Meteor wiping everything to ruin. No one knew where the water came from, or why it kept running, but everyone knew it just did. Some people even wanted to get their hands on the whole thing, but they would have to wait for Aerith's mother to move on.  
The minute mountain curved its way behind the house and just a little further on, it plunged deep into the ground, never to be seen again.  
Marlene's face was a sea of emotions. She longed to see the flowers in full bloom once more, but now that seemed like a far-off fantasy. She shivered slightly, but kept her expression the same.  
"Marlene? Are you alright?" She turned her head slightly to see Tifa peering at her. Marlene noticed that she too was shivering. The cold wind suddenly blew more violent and Marlene had to keep a firm grip on her ribbon plaited into her hair to stop it from lifting off. Tifa then frowned at the wind and put an arm around Marlene for comfort.  
"Come on," she said. "Let's get inside, before we all catch a cold." Tifa turned around and said the same thing to the others. Cloud and Denzel had their arms wrapped around themselves for warmth, but were shivering all the same. They too nodded and the party turned for the door of the house.

Reno was lost for words. How could the mission go so horribly wrong? They followed the right orders and had carried them out as planned; they retrieved a box and now it was in their hands. But what Reno didn't get was why Rufus was in such a bad mood.  
"Rufus is in such a bad mood." Rude told him. Reno winced and slapped a hand through the air.  
"Bah," he said.  
"I can see you are too!" Reno scowled at Rude from across the bedroom. It only contained two single beds – one on either end of the room – a small, ornate window depicting a view of the gardens below; a light-brown carpet on the floor with light wallpaper to match and a chest of drawers accompanying a dark, wooden wardrobe. There was a notice board by one wall potent in papers. They held text, pictures and diagrams. All of which were of some importance.  
Reno and Rude were discussing how the day went. Rufus had sent them to bed to clear their heads; for tomorrow, they would go on a long trip to get the right box.  
Rude sighed, heavily. The springs on his bed squeaked in frustration as he sat down with a loud thump. He was only trying to help, but Reno wasn't in a negotiable mood right now. Looking across at him, Rude could tell there was a major problem.  
"Reno, what's wrong?" Reno sat onto his bed in a heavy thump and crossed his hands, looking into oblivion. Rude sighed once more. This could take a while.  
"We're getting the right box tomorrow," he said. Reno didn't move. "It's not your fault the mission didn't go to plan." Rude wasn't sure why he just said that; it was all Reno's fault. He had ran around the corner to be saved by Tifa, had mistook the Materia box for the other and smacked Rude in the face with his weapon. Maybe I should take it back . . . Rude thought. He looked at Reno once more, but he didn't seem to have moved.  
Rude gave a big yawn and stretched his arms above his head as if reaching for a far-off item. He then lay down on his bed and the pillows greeted him, nicely. All the thoughts of the day vanished in an instant, only to be replaced by those of dream-land.

As they walked closer to the house, they realised how big it was. It looked fairly similar to a cottage, but the upstairs was much bigger and the roof was much better than thatched; it had a slate covering as well. The white walls surrounding the house stood proudly, but they also seemed aged. Some window shutters had come loose in the wind and were flapping around on one hinge. If Aerith's mother was still inside, they would all be grateful for the warmth.  
As they all came closer to the door, the wind rushed into the party and had brought a freezing chill to accompany it. Everyone shivered as Cloud reached his hand forward and rapped onto the large, deeply red wooden door. The sound was almost hollow, but it did have some hardness to it. They all waited a while for an answer, but no one came. They stood, huddled together from the Autumn wind, thinking someone was in the house. As they were just about to turn back, they heard locks unclick and the door opened slightly. A middle-aged woman revealed herself momentarily, her hair was a black bun and her face was kind. Her eyes were of a green, almost yellow, mixture and her top was worn with age. She took one look at Cloud and then closed the door in their faces.  
"Hey!" Marlene protested. Tifa gasped. How could the woman see them all and then just close the door?  
"Excuse me?" Cloud put his head to the door. The woman replied, but it was almost unheard.  
"Go away! There's nothing for you here!"  
"You know us! We came here three years ago with . . . with . . ." The woman finished his sentence for him.  
"Aerith," The woman opened the door and hung her head out. Her eyes seemed to fill with tears and she chocked back the urge to cry.  
"C-come in-n," she told them, dabbing at her eyes with a hankie.  
"What about your motorbike, Cloud?" Denzel asked.  
"I'll leave it there. Everyone better get inside, quickly to warm yourself up." Cloud's voice was demanding and almost scary. Everyone did as instructed and then the door was closed. Everyone sighed with relief as a wave of warm air reached their senses.  
Cloud looked about the room. There wasn't a door leading to any other rooms; just a set of stairs leading to the second floor. A table stood in the middle of the room, holding a used plate and pieces of cutlery. A table cloth hung loosely over the top and a potted plant sat in the centre. There were cupboards and draws about the walls, and the kitchen was on the other side. A fridge, an oven and a few counters gathered around as if plotting some devious plan. Cloud, Tifa and Marlene had all been here before. Marlene had been taken here to hide from Sephiroth and Meteor, whereas Cloud and Tifa had came to see Aerith.  
"So," Tifa said. "We have been thinking you would give us some sanctuary, at the very least." She smiled, but stopped as she saw no one else doing the same.  
"You have a lovely home, Mrs . . ." Tifa stopped talking as she realised Aerith's mother was not in the mood. Her hanky was still in her hand and she sat on a chair, dabbing away at her eyes. The children didn't know what to do, so they were warming themselves up by the open fire-place which was burning coal and wood brightly. Tifa couldn't think of anything else to say, so she drew on her sympathy and pulled up a chair next to the woman.  
"It's a hard time, these days." The woman didn't respond, so then Tifa embraced her in a warm hug.  
"Aerith is . . . g-g-gone." The woman finally said, and then burst into much greater tears.  
"There, there, Mrs . . . Aerith." Tifa said, rather uncertainly. By this time, Cloud had walked over to the children and was also warming himself up. The woman sat up and released herself from the hug.  
"Please, call me Elmyra. I'm Elmyra Gainsborough. I took on Aerith's life after her mother sadly died. Now look at me. I've failed to keep her alive!" At that point, she burst into tears again, even harder than the last time. Tifa didn't give up, though.  
"Elmyra, it wasn't your fault. If anything, it was Sephiroth." Elmyra winced as the name was said. She then sat up straight and rubbed her eyes with the hanky. She looked over at Cloud, who was warming his hands with the children, then back to Tifa.  
"Yes . . yes, I suppose you're right." Elmyra sounded unsure. Almost as if she was unconvinced, herself.  
"I expect you are all freezing! There's an arctic chill creeping its way down here. This must be the first for centuries. You must all spend the night here, until you are ready to move on. I'll see you to some rooms and then I'll make a nice hot meal for us all. How does that sound?" The children weren't listening half the way through, but when food was mentioned, they perked right up.  
"GREAT!" They beamed at each other. The promise of food was so great to them. Tifa looked at Cloud with a small smile set upon her face. He was warming his rear up on the fire when Elmyra turned to look at them all. He had frozen and nodded his head slightly in agreement.  
"Cloud," Tifa got his attention. "Why don't you take the children upstairs why I help Mrs. Gainsborough with the meal?" Elmyra smiled.  
"Please," she said. "Call me Elmyra. I'm not accustomed to being titled so formally." Tifa nodded and the children pulled Cloud away from the fire. Elmyra peered over at them and called.  
"Cloud," Cloud stopped the children pushing him up the stairs and looked at Elmyra. "The place has been redone since your last visit. You should find the second room on your left adequate for the four of you." Cloud nodded and then Denzel and Marlene forced their weight into him.  
Once they were out of sight, Elmyra simply said "Children!"

The night was dark, but not as dark as it usually was. Rude sat upright in his bed. The moonlight was thrown in through the small window and was creating strange shadows on the floor and walls. It was as if some magic was working its way around the room, taking special care to cover everything in strange shapes. The moonlight was magical and it was calling to him. Rude cautiously looked about the room. For some reason, he had the impression someone was hiding. Could it be the fairies, or an intruder? Either way, they weren't supposed to be here.  
Rude got to his feet, after several minutes of straining his ears, desperately trying to catch the slightest noise that would give them away. He didn't hear anything, so he stood up and gave a loud, long yawn.  
He walked over to the window and leaned on the small sill, the moonlight shone on his body like a spotlight. The Healin Lodge wasn't amazing, per se. It was only the most basic housing they could get. It did have some standard, though. It was better than being in a slum building, but that was blatant.  
He sighed slightly and watched the events unfold outside. A fox was chasing a rabbit round and round the garden with no success. The trees were dancing like ballerinas in the wind and a few birds were squawking as they flew past the gardens. There life was so simple. It didn't contain any major parts to it. They didn't have a democracy, or a community. They had no traditions and their culture was simple. Their life cycle was short, but even then it was lived. Rude wondered why humans had such problems. He almost forgot about the world for a moment, until he heard floorboards creaking behind him.  
Rude froze with fear. Did he have enough time to clamber into his bed without being noticed? He didn't think so. Maybe it was just a member of staff. It can't be! They wouldn't be out this late! Rude crouched down, out of the moonlight's view and stood put. He concentrated on his breathing, slowing it down to the minimum it could be. His heart was pounding, so this was difficult. Rude watched the door eagerly. He was waiting for someone to come bursting in, but, instead, the door was gently pushed inwards. Fear started to creep its way into Rude's senses. He had to stay out the light at all costs.  
The figure from the door turned their head round the corner and looked into the darkness. The person's body was invisible to Rude. He could only see a very tall and intimidating silhouette.  
The figure put one foot on the carpet in front of them. They were being rather cautious of being caught. The figure then walked to the middle of the room, very close to Rude and inspected, from the light, the whole place. It was as if they were looking for something – something small. The figure was looking low to the ground, so maybe they were after a heavy item that was too big to fit onto a shelf. The room was inspected loosely; it was only then that the figure groaned slightly and walked out the room. The groan got to Rude. It sounded similar, somehow. He shook himself and decided to follow the intruder. If they were after something of theirs, he had to do something about it.  
Rude slowly repositioned himself to get up. A sharp pain shot its way through his leg – cramp. This was going to be bad! As Rude got to his feet, he took a few breaths and waddled out of the room. He couldn't see the silhouetted figure anywhere, so he decided to follow his ears. Everything was quiet for a moment, until he felt the floor shake slightly and a female voice protest. That noise came from Rufus' room! Rude had no time to think anything over, so he ran over.  
The door was already open by the time he got there, and as he looked in, he could see Rufus' shadow sleeping soundly on his bed and a shadow on the floor in an awkward position. This had been a moment which he would have done something, but then the figure looked his way. Rude froze. He was full of fear at that point. He waited for the intruder to look away before quickly darting behind the door. He caught his breath and waited.

From beyond the walls, Rude could only hear the sound of struggling and then a thud on the floor. The intruder sighed and then Rude heard the strangest sound of all. It was as if the carpet were pretending to be the ocean. Something clicked in his brain as he realised the intruder was dragging something heavy across the floor. The only heavy object which could possibly be of any value in Rufus' room was the . . . THE MATERIA!  
Now Rude had no hope at all of defeating the opponent. But he had to do something! He decided to leap at the person once they were past this door. Maybe it would surprise them – he could only find out. Minutes turned into hours as Rude waited for the intruder to pass. His breathing increased and he was sweating quite something. The intruder was sure taking their time. Rude was waiting there for, at least, five minutes, waiting for the intruder to pass the door. Once they had done this, Rude braced himself for the jump. He saw the intruder coming out past the door and spotted a familiarity with the person. He couldn't think why. Intruders didn't usually seem familiar.  
Once the intruder got past the door, they stopped and caught their breath. They muttered something under their breath and kept breathing heavily. Rude was having a battle in his mind.  
_I should go now!_  
_NO! You should wait until they're moving!_  
_But what if something else happens?_  
_Stop __whinging__! GO NOW!_  
_I don't want to._  
_This is the perfect time to grab them!_  
_It's unfair._  
_UNFAIR?! You're a Turk! You're not meant to be fair!_  
This conversational battle kept going for some time. All the while, Rude didn't move. His face kept changing expressions and he didn't know what to do. Before anything else could happen, Rude jumped as a voice spoke out which he hadn't expected.  
"Can I help you?" Reno's voice was patronising. As he said this, the intruder looked around for the owner of the voice and then desperately looked for somewhere to hide. They took too long, and by that time, Reno had turned on the lights. Rude hastily lifted a hand to block his eyes from the dazzling light. He couldn't see the intruder anymore, so he waited for his eyes to adjust.  
"Can I ask what you're doing with that?" Reno's voice had its sarcastic tone in it as usual, but it didn't sound concerned, as Rude thought it should be.  
"Ohh! This was gonna be too good!" The female voice sounded small and annoying.  
"You should know not to pilfer from a Turk!"  
"Ohh! Well, I'm not going without a fight!"  
"Ha-ha! Your efforts are in vain. We will stop you."  
"'We?' I see no 'we.'" Everything was silent. This was when Rude realised it was his cue to make his entrance.  
"I said: 'We will stop you!'" Reno put emphasis on the sentence and then cleared his throat. Rude was supposed to have come out already. His eyes had only just recently adjusted to the light and his head was spinning. Now was the time to strike at the intruder.  
Plucking up his courage, Rude jumped out from behind the door. To his surprise, standing in front of Reno, with the Materia box, was Yuffie.  
Reno gasped.  
"YOU!" he said in disbelief, pointing at the ninja. Yuffie smiled.  
"What are the chances of seeing you two again?"  
Yuffie was wearing her usual clothes. She claimed that she was a great ninja from the Wutai Village, and most believed her. Her shoes were somewhat large; they carried on up to her shins and her laces followed. It must have been a nightmare tying all those laces. After her shoes, Yuffie wore shorts which were a plain colour and simple to the eye. Her torso was covered in a jacket of some sort and underneath lay another top, but this was almost unseen. Her hair was short and barely came down to the bottom of her head – it was almost like an illusion.  
The most characteristic part of Yuffie was her left arm. It lay in a huge cast for some reason. No body had ever asked her why it was in a huge cast, so Yuffie didn't tell.  
Yuffie gave a slight laugh. Rude stared at her in disbelief.  
"Why are you doing this?" Reno sighed and slapped a hand to his forehead.  
"Doesn't everyone know?" Yuffie said. She sounded sarcastic, but Rude wasn't sure. He frowned as she didn't proceed. Yuffie whispered.  
"I am here to take your Materia." Rude had to lean in slightly to hear her, but as he did so, Yuffie grabbed him by the shoulder and pulled him over her head, slamming him to the ground. Rude didn't move after that, so Yuffie turned her attention to Reno.  
"As I was saying: I see no 'we.'" Reno laughed slightly.  
"It appears you're wrong once more." Yuffie frowned, then understood. She went to turn around, but a metal bar smacked her in the back of the head. She fell to the floor, and as her sight failed, Rufus walked into view.  
"Why can you two never do anything right?" Reno didn't answer. He just stared from Yuffie, to Rude then to Rufus.  
"Get rid of the body!" Yuffie's eyes closed and she knew she had messed up.


	9. Chapter 8

After scaling the stairs, Cloud found the landing exactly as it used to be, except there was an extension of some sort. He followed the path with Denzel and Marlene at his heels, all the while treading softly on the warm, red carpet beneath his feet. A door stood to his left – Elmyra's room. Cloud vaguely knew where he was to go because he'd been here before. It was quite a time ago, but even so, the landing looked different, thanks to the extension Elmyra had paid for.  
Following the landing, Cloud looked ahead and saw a dark door at a dead-end. He was about to go towards it when Denzel spoke.  
"What about this door, Cloud?" Cloud span on his heel and saw Denzel behind him standing next to a door which he had missed. It was almost hidden, but it eluded Cloud to why he had missed it in the first place.  
"Come on then," he said, taking Marlene by the hand. He marched towards Denzel and saluted, jokingly. Denzel laughed and Marlene giggled.  
As Cloud put his hand to the door handle and twisted it, the door pushed itself inwards, almost automatic, Cloud decided. The three of them peered inside and the room was revealed from the soft light pouring in through a vast window.  
"I knew it!" Marlene jumped with joy. Cloud and Denzel looked at her. "The house looked different from the outside." She said, innocently. They walked into the room and inspected it thoroughly. From the door, a blue carpet was stretched throughout and four immaculate beds – two on either side – were neatly arranged with soft duvets and plump pillows. There were bedside cabinets by each bed and a welcoming lamp on each. Two wardrobes stood opposite each other and a cupboard of children's toys lay open at the side, unused. As for the window, large, thick curtains were draped on either side and a windowsill held a vase of flowers and a few books were stacked neatly.  
"Wow," Cloud said, unbelieving. Denzel and Marlene had huge smiles on their faces and were wondering whether they should run around screaming or wait for Cloud to give orders. They were too full of amazement to decide the latter, so they screamed about and ran to a specific part of the room. Denzel ran for the toy box and Marlene ran to the windowsill. Cloud looked at the beds, wondering which he could use. As Denzel rummaged through all the toys, Cloud chose a bed nearest the window. Marlene was oblivious. She stared out the window for ages, watching the waterfall gush down with all its beauty.  
"Well, we'll have to occupy ourselves until tea is ready." Cloud told them. He had snuggled up nicely on his bed and had his hands behind his head, his elbows pointing to corners of the room.  
"Okay," Denzel said, looking up with a soldier in one hand. "What can we do?" Cloud smiled. This wasn't going to be any different.

* * *

"So, Elmyra, what shall we cook?" Tifa sounded cheerful and optimistic. Elmyra lifted her head from her hand and stared over at her. She must have been thinking deeply about something troubling her. Elmyra then stood up and walked over to the kitchen area.  
"We could make a stew, or a roast. What do you think they'd like?" Tifa thought about it as she walked over, noticing the miserable tone in her voice.  
"A stew would be better for them, but they'd all prefer a roast." Elmyra sighed.  
"Well, we'll just have to make a stew." Tifa smiled, wryly and nodded.  
"Shall we get started?" Elmyra nodded and then went over to the sink to wash her hands. She expected Tifa to follow suit, and as she did, she started rummaging through the cupboards.  
"Let's see. Well, I do have a lot of vegetables, so we're in luck! I don't have any sauce, though."  
"Perhaps we could make some?"  
"Oh, could you?"  
"Absolutely! I wouldn't mind."  
"I'll get your equipment out then. What do you think you'll need?" Tifa smiled.  
"I'll need a nice big pan, a great big spoon and let me know where the flour and milk is." As if on command, Elmyra summoned the equipment and placed it on a counter in front of Tifa.  
"The milk is in the fridge, just on a shelf and the flour is in the cupboard above the fridge. Okay?" Tifa nodded and Elmyra went into the cupboards once more and brought out a large cooking pot for the stew and a chopping board.  
"Let's get started!"

Reno sighed heavily. As he and Rude tossed Yuffie's body into a basement of a deserted house, he thought about his life. Does it get any better than this? He thought to himself. He looked across at Rude. He knew that if he talked to him about this, he would stop him, somehow.  
They walked back to their motorbikes in silence.  
Night was passing now and morning was beginning to appear quite suddenly. It was getting lighter and a gentle breeze was blowing at their faces. The various trees about them had lost all but a few of their leaves and birds were scarce.  
Reno and Rude mounted their bikes and drove away, back to the Healin Lodge. Their engines roared and the wind picked up as their speed increased. What would they do now? They'd go back and get a load of rubbish from Rufus. If only there was a way of putting him in a better mood.  
"That's it!" Reno shouted. Rude swerved his bike and almost crashed.  
"HEY!" he screamed.  
"Rude, how's about we go and deal with these crate-stealers?"  
"WHAT?!" Reno smiled at Rude's sharp reply.  
"It'll be better for Rufus!" Rude seemed to think about this for quite some time. He remained silent and then looked up at Reno.  
"We should . . ."  
"But?" Rude frowned.  
"What do you mean 'but?'"  
"You were about to say something else." Reno smiled.  
"Forget it, let's just go."  
"Back to Rufus, or to the crate-stealers?" Rude sighed.  
"Has our boss ordered us to go?"  
"No, but, that's the best bit! If he doesn't know and we return with the right crate, he'll praise us!"  
"Don't let your imagination get the better of you, Reno!"  
"Well, we might as well go back then." Rude smiled contently.  
"That's more like it."  
Rude sped off before Reno could say any more. His motorbike roared and disappeared under the big bridge ahead. Reno smiled and gave chase.

Tifa sighed alongside Elmyra. They were sweating from all the effort they put into the stew and now they really wanted to stop, sit down and relax. A drink was one thing which they would adore, but the stew had to be prepared.  
"That's a lovely job, dear. Thank you. Would you be so kind as to fetch a bottle of something from the cupboards over there and pour us both a drink?"  
"I'd be delighted." Tifa smiled at Elmyra. "All the hard work is paying off, huh?" Tifa opened a cupboard and took the only bottle in sight.  
"Well, I'd like to think so." Tifa put the bottle on a surface and fetched two cups.  
"And what does that mean exactly?" She opened the bottle and poured the contents into both cups. "There you go." Tifa handed Elmyra a cup and took a sip from her own. A sweet taste immediately filled her mouth, along with a craving for more. The after-taste was somewhat pleasant and Tifa felt like she was drifting off to a distant land.  
"It means I'd like to think the hard work has paid off!" Elmyra smiled and took a large sip from her cup. "That's much better! Thank you." Tifa smiled and took another sip of her drink. She noticed how Elmyra was no longer frowning, but had a large smile on her face.  
"What is in this then?" Tifa felt another freshening sensation as the cool liquid flowed down her throat.  
"Well, it should be a little bit of a brew I made myself. It contains a few berries and something else. I forget what though." Tifa looked worriedly at Elmyra. "Don't worry, it's nothing harmful!" Tifa smiled hesitantly. Elmyra saw this and then they both laughed.  
"Don't worry, Tifa. If I've drank it as well, it wouldn't be a good poison to kill you now, would it? I'd also be dead!"  
Tifa laughed hesitantly, a little scared now. She was sure it was nothing, but she kept her smile.  
"Shall I finish off the vegetables?" Tifa asked.  
"Oh, that would be lovely, dear." Elmyra finished off her drink by draining the glass and then slammed it onto the counter. Tifa jumped and a carrot piece flew onto the floor.  
"Oh, my apologies, dear." Elmyra laughed, loudly, picked up the piece of carrot and walked over to the bin. Tifa raised the board to the cooking pot and pushed the vegetables into the mixture of water and sauce.  
"Well, if we get this into the oven, that gives us around two hours, does it?"  
"Exactly right, my dear." Elmyra walked back over to Tifa and they both grabbed one end of the pot.  
"Careful now," Elmyra said as they lowered the heavy thing towards the entrance of the oven. When the door closed over it and the dials were moved to their right positions, they staggered back and enjoyed another cup of brew.  
"We should check on the children. They wouldn't want to be cooped up in here for two hours!" Tifa put down her cup and headed towards the stairs.  
"I'll be back in a moment." Elmyra nodded and went to pour herself another drink.  
Tifa sighed as she arrived at the second floor.  
"I'm sure they'll do some work as they get older." She said to herself – though not believing it in the slightest.

* * *

"Can we see the flower fields?" Marlene asked to no-one in particular as she looked at them from the window. Denzel tutted and laughed at her for saying such a thing to Cloud and himself.  
"And what was that for?!" Marlene asked, now turned away from the window. Denzel laughed once more and Marlene gave him a hard look.  
"Y-you do realise that-"  
"What?!" Marlene cut him off and sharply shouted at him. Cloud wasn't doing anything to intervene; he was just lying down on the bed, reminiscing of the past. This argument was between them two. If Cloud intervened, this wouldn't prepare, or help Denzel in the future, when he had a wife and would be arguing with her.  
Back in the room, Marlene prompted Denzel for an answer. Denzel hesitantly replied.  
"Well . . . we're boys," he pointed to Cloud and himself "and we don't like soppy flowers!" Denzel grew with confidence as he spoke and almost raised his voice to an angry tone. Marlene frowned at this comment and walked over to Cloud. He turned his head slightly and widened his eyes.  
"Yes, Marlene?" She gave him a toothy grin and leaned over him so her head was over his.  
"You like flowers, Cloud, don't you?" Cloud smiled and took his time to reply. Marlene seemed more agitated as he didn't reply and Denzel smiled, confidently.  
"Yes, Marlene. Yes, I do." Marlene smiled, intently and walked back to Denzel. Cloud heaved himself up to a sitting position and Denzel sighed, heavily.  
"You're only saying that 'cus of Aerith!" at the sudden mention of her name, Cloud's body racked with emotions and he fell back onto the bed. He closed his eyes and tears started to form. Her image appeared in his mind and the tears became more intense.  
"DENZEL!" Marlene shouted at him. At that precise moment, there was a knock on the door and it opened somewhat quickly. Tifa entered the room and her smile soon faded as she saw Cloud.  
"Cloud?" Marlene looked sympathetically at him and Denzel seemed guilty.  
"What's happened?" Tifa asked as she ran over to the bed and perched on the edge. She placed a hand on Cloud's and watched him, unable to help.  
"Well, Denzel said they both didn't like flowers, so I asked Cloud if he did and then he said he did, but then Denzel said he only liked flowers because of . . ." Marlene didn't need to finish the sentence; Tifa knew who she was talking about.  
"Hmm," she said. Denzel looked up at her and saw a tear was falling down Tifa's cheek too. He then realised what Aerith meant to them both.  
Cloud sat up and clenched Tifa's hand. He wiped away his tears with the other and opened his eyes.  
"Let's go see the flowers." He said with confidence and determination. Everyone gasped and gave a puzzled look.  
"Are you sure you want to?" Tifa asked him. Cloud nodded and then squeezed her hand one last time before letting go.

A little while later, the four three of them arrived downstairs and Elmyra looked them up and down.  
"Is something the matter, dears?" Elmyra could see Cloud and Tifa had red around their eyes and both children looked sober. They all shook their heads, but none of them spoke.  
"We're going out to see the flowers." Tifa told her. Elmyra widened her eyes.  
"The ones Aerith planted?" As the name was spoken once more, nobody responded. They kept quiet and looked to the floor.  
"Are you sure nothing's the matter?" Tifa nodded. "Well, in that case, I think I'll go with you." They all looked up in surprise at Elmyra, who smiled back at them. "It's still a bit chilly, so why don't we all get our coats then?" Elmyra walked off in one direction whereas the others looked at each other wondering what to do.  
"Well come on then!" Elmyra called back at them. "If you're any later, the tea will get over-done." Tifa agreed and helped everyone along their way to the door.

Reno sighed as he was led by Rude out of the enormous garage.  
"We're wasting time, you realise." Rude didn't answer, even though Reno had asked him umpteen times. He just grunted, which didn't really help. Reno smiled wryly and shook his head. He knew he was winding Rude up and he couldn't help it. If Rufus asked them to go get the crate, then coming back to him in the fist place was a waste of time. Reno knew this, but Rude remained loyal to Rufus, to the very end.  
"I'm going to say 'I told you so' when Rufus tells us to fetch that crate." Reno exclaimed with his sarcastic tone once more. By this time they had walked to the end of the corridor and Rude opened the wooden door in front of them revealing the garden they had to manoeuvre to get back to the lodge. Smooth, round rocks and jagged rocks, surrounded in grass and a sloped cliff with dry, muddy twists and turns. Each one joined to one large one which shot up the middle of the climb.  
Rude walked onwards and Reno followed him, still trying to convince Rude with a hopeless effort. A ring tone started to sound and both jumped. Reno frowned as he dug his hand into his pocket and retrieved his vibrating phone. Rude gave him a funny look as he answered it, but stood still. It wasn't usual for Reno to get called from other people; he usually did the calling. Rude stared at Reno as he flipped it open and answered it.  
"Hello?" his tone of voice changed as the person on the other line spoke. "Tseng?! . . . Where are you? . . . We're on our way . . . What? . . . Rufus? . . . We're coming! . . . Hold on." Reno flipped his phone back and hastily threw it into his pocket. He then started to run off up the hill. Rude frowned and followed him.  
"Tseng? Does that mean Elena is with him too? Has something happened?" Reno was now sprinting up the slope. Something important must have happened.  
"Rufus is in danger!" he shouted behind him to Rude.  
"WHAT?!" Rude shouted back at him. Reno didn't reply, or even need to. Rude picked up his speed as they both edged closer to the lodge.  
"I knew I should have stayed behind!" Rude told himself. He took Rufus' protection very seriously. More than any of the other Turks ever did. Now it's just Reno, Rude, Elena and Tseng – but Elena and Tseng were more field work than anything else, whereas Reno and Rude were more for Rufus' protection. They had been in an unknown location, but by the sounds of it, they were now with Rufus. In the past, Rufus, Reno and Rude had thought they were killed. This was because of Kadaj and his gang. Tseng and Elena were actually tortured for information on the whereabouts of Jenova. This happened to be near the Forgotten City. They painfully ventured there and met Vincent near the lake who healed them as best he could. They stayed put for a while and then went to seek proper health care. Afterwards, they found the location of Rufus and created a plan for when he dropped the box containing Jenova's head off the side of the building. Rufus would jump off after the box and Kadaj would follow him. This happened as planned and as Kadaj fell faster to catch the box, Tseng and Elena shot out nets from guns to catch Rufus. The whole plan worked and the Turks were reunited once more.  
Reno and Rude climbed the stairs leading to the lodge four at a time, arrived at the door and slammed into it as it failed to open. It must be locked. How could Rufus lock them out? It must be for his own protection. If one of them stayed behind, he wouldn't have to have locked the door. Rude grunted in annoyance and Reno sighed. He banged on the door for a while, knowing full well that the others had to be in; they phoned him and told him to come to the lodge. _Unless the villains were already in there_. Reno shuddered at the thought.  
They waited a while, unable to do anything. A few minutes past –or so they seemed to think – and they heard voice from the other side. They both jumped up and waited for a familiar face to appear. They both gasped with joy as Elena appeared at the door. Elena was wearing her uniform smartly just as always and her smile was priceless. Her face was kind and her short blonde hair was neatly draped over the side of her head, but out of her eyes and face.  
"Reno. Rude. I'm so glad to see you!" Elena seemed cheerful and spread her arms wide, waiting for them both to embrace her in a friendly hug. Reno and Rude were more than delighted and gave her a hug in turn as they entered the lodge. Elena closed the door behind them as they entered and locked it.  
The entrance room was just as it usually was. The window was still there, the curtains drawn, the doors were all still intact and the small TV was still there, perched on a small surface. Reno and Rude hastily walked to the door and opened it. The corridor was usual, but Tseng stood proudly on the other end, facing them. Tseng wasn't a person to smile – he was keen on his work and took it seriously. He was above the other Turks and commanded them.  
Tseng was above average height by an inch or so and had dark, black hair. He seemed to always look immaculate in his suit, unlike Reno who always wore it untidily. There was one very distinctive feature about Tseng, which was because of his background. He had a dark spot in the centre of his forehead. It looked strange to those who weren't used to it, but it was a sign of his culture.  
As Reno and Rude pressed themselves to the door, staring at Tseng, Elena crept up behind them.  
"Do carry on." They both jumped and Elena laughed lightly. "We do have work to be getting on with, so it's best to hurry." They both agreed and clumsily opened the door, before banging it into Rude's face. They carried on down the corridor, watching Tseng in case he gave them a funny look. Elena continued behind them, almost rounding them up like a sheep-dog. Reno felt trapped in some way. Rude wanted to get to the matter quickly so they could start the job.  
Tseng opened the door at his end of the corridor so they could all go through. He nodded at Reno, Rude and finally Elena as they walked past him into the living room. Tseng then walked in the room and closed the door behind him. The others all stood around, wondering what would then happen. Elena walked to the couch and took a seat. As she did so, a door opened on the left side of the room and Rufus walked in. His rag was no longer covering him, but he couldn't wear it all the time, and he also needed to walk as much as he could, but gradually however. Rufus' face was wrapped in a bandage still, but that was still because he was recovering from the first injury from the Shinra explosion from Weapon and the Sister Ray.  
At the sight of Rufus, Reno stirred slightly – he usually became nervous, but that was only because he often made a mistake with Rufus. Rude walked forwards and stood, erect, next to the couch. Tseng kept his place by the door to watch for unwelcome visitors and Elena moved herself to a comfortable position on the couch.  
As Rufus walked to the centre of the room and started to pace, he struggled slightly, but continued. As he perambulated the room for the second time, he started to address them all.  
"Well, Reno, Rude," he said, nodding to each of them in turn. "Elena and Tseng have returned to find Dr . . . who was it?" Rufus stopped for a second and looked at Tseng. He turned to Rufus and answered.  
"Dr. Herman." Rufus nodded and continued.  
"Dr. Herman has a base in which he resides. There is a base beneath it and it is heavily guarded. A large wall surrounds the area, which makes it hard to gain entry. There is word that something is being held secret there. It may be a fallacy, but I want you to check it out. If all of you go, you will stand a better chance of gaining entry and confronting Dr. Herman. Find out Dr. Herman's plan and cease it. Is that clear?" Reno and Rude seemed to understand what he had said, but Rude seemed to look a little worried.  
"If we're all going together, who's to look after you?" Tseng agreed. Rufus thought for a moment.  
"Perhaps, Sir," Elena said, all attention now on her. "We could come up with a plan like last time."  
"Good point." Rufus noted.  
"But what's the plan and how will it work?" Tseng asked.  
"If I may," this time Reno spoke. It was brave of him to do so because at times like these, he usually got embarrassed by saying something silly. Every one looked at him and waited. "I came up with the plan last time, didn't I?"  
"Actually, we all pitched in." Tseng reminded him.  
"But I came up with the original idea, didn't I?" Rufus nodded and continued to pace the room.  
"So . . ." Rude said to make Reno continue.  
"So," Reno said. They all leaned in slightly as Reno discussed the first steps to their plan.

Elmyra had led Cloud, Tifa, Denzel and Marlene outside her house to the cold weather. The wind had died down a lot, so little dust was flying around into anyone's eyes. They had wrapped up warm anyway, just in case the wind picked up and had walked their way to the field with all the flowers in. Splitting into two groups, rather than going separately seemed the better option. Cloud and Tifa walked off to one side of the field, whereas Denzel and Marlene went with Elmyra to another part of it.  
Elmyra led them to a quiet place in one corner. The flowers were short, pale green in their stalks and the bright, cupped shaped flowers stood tall and proud, waving in the wind to everyone who looked. Marlene ran around like crazy. She seemed to want to see all of the flowers, tending to each one as if it were her responsibility. Elmyra chuckled slightly and looked around. The flowers always reminded her of Aerith. She took a moment to mourn her once more before turning her attention back to the children. Denzel had his arms folded and was looking at the flowers in a weird fashion. It seemed as though he thought the flowers were going to spit fire at him or something.  
"It would mean the world to the others if you actually showed some appreciation for the flowers." Elmyra told Denzel as he continued to stare at the flowers.  
"Flowers aren't really my thing." He told her, uncertain whether to add anything else. Marlene looked up at him.  
"Denzel?" she said, quite shocked. "How can you say such a thing?" Elmyra agreed with Marlene as they both looked at him. He shifted uneasily and looked at the floor.  
"Did I say they weren't my thing?" they both nodded at him. "Urm, well . . . I didn't really mean that." He laughed uncertainly.  
"Well?" Marlene asked him.  
"Well, what?" he returned, slightly bemused.  
"She means, dear, what then did you mean?" Denzel was now unsure for anything to say to this. He said the first thing which then came into his head.  
"Flowers are gifts from aliens, but I don't like aliens." Elmyra frowned.  
"What does that mean, dear?" Denzel wouldn't then respond to them. He had used up his mind power on that last comment.  
Cloud and Tifa had walked to a quiet part of the field. They were still a little upset about Aerith, but now they were going to feel better by talking to her. Every now and again, if Aerith was on their mind and it was still upsetting them, talking to her was the only way to set things right. Usually, Aerith would talk back. This sounded impossible as she was dead, but being an Ancient - a Cetra - Aerith literally controlled the planet. She could talk to them, but only as herself if she forced the illusion upon them. An illusion of Aerith would only appear to them if they were deeply troubled by her absence. Otherwise, Aerith's voice could only be heard.  
"Cloud, now that Seventh Heaven has gone, where are we going to stay?" Cloud thought about it for a moment. "All our work is ruined, you realise?" he said nothing. Tifa went on, hoping Cloud would then say something. "You don't care? Everything has been lost, Cloud. Everything!" Cloud stared at the floor. "Oh, you wouldn't say that because you have your motorbike!"  
"And you," Cloud muttered. Tifa didn't hear him.  
"So I suppose as long as you're alright, everything should be fine?" Cloud was still thinking about Aerith. He couldn't think about too many things at once. If he could just sort out these feelings towards Aerith first, maybe he would stand a better chance with Tifa and this conversation.  
"Cloud. Say something."  
"Tifa, can we speak to Aerith first?" Tifa felt a quick jolt of emotion. Somehow, that comment made Tifa feel as though Cloud still felt attached to Aerith. How could he still be in love with a dead woman? Tifa thought to herself. She found it kind of unbelievable.  
- _Is that dead woman me?_ Tifa jumped. Aerith had just spoken to her. Her voice sounded concerned, but also cheerful at the same time.  
"Cloud!" she said, trying to get his attention again. He looked over and frowned. He didn't understand why Tifa just said what she just did. Why is she always being so pushy? Cloud thought to himself.  
- _Is that pushy person me?_ Cloud jumped. Aerith had spoken to him. It had been quite some time because they hadn't had a recent crisis which Cloud had resolved. Now things were much different and Cloud could possibly talk to Aerith a lot more. He'd better make the most of it while he still could.  
"Tifa!" he said, trying to get her attention. They both tried to say something about Aerith at the same time, but it all came out in a slur of words. They understood each other and laughed.  
"Aerith?" they asked the air, expecting her to understand they wanted her presence to be known. Aerith understood and a particularly large flower started to glow an effulgent green and they just knew Aerith was talking to them from there. Tifa and Cloud bent on their knees and put all their attention on the flower as if it were speaking to them directly, as a special friend.  
"Aerith?" Tifa asked. Her soft voice came again, but still almost inside their heads.  
- _It's been a while. How have you been?_  
A tear formed in Cloud's eye and dropped down to the ground.  
"We were worried about you." Tifa managed. She was also starting to cry now.  
_- Don't be upset. I'm doing well._  
"What can we do?" Cloud asked her.  
_- What do you mean?_ She replied. Cloud hesitated.  
"Our home is gone and we need to find out what to do." Tifa suddenly realised why Cloud didn't speak to her about the situation; he didn't know what to do.  
_- Go after them._ They didn't understand.  
"Go after who?"  
_- Dilly-dally shilly-shally._ Aerith said.  
Tifa laughed slightly and Cloud smiled. Aerith could always keep them happy.  
_- Who took your crate?_  
"These strange men." Tifa said in disbelief.  
_- How can you get to them?_ After a lot of thought, Cloud spoke.  
"Cid?" He was right, in a way. Going by means of his bike would mean that Denzel and Marlene wouldn't have any means to escape if Elmyra had to take them away from her home. But by using Cid's airship, they would be able to travel across the world to find out what to do.  
"Didn't Vincent say something to you about a scientist wanting to destroy Midgar?" Tifa asked Cloud. He suddenly remembered and that thought spurred on the next.  
_- The scientist is just outside Rocket Town. They've set up a base. A vast wall and towers._  
"Where can we find Cid?" Cloud asked Aerith.  
_- He's flying at the moment._  
"Where?" Tifa asked, suddenly aware that they needed the airship if they were to get to the root of the problem.  
_- Just outside Midgar. He'll stop for fuel soon. He was on his way to see you._ Cloud felt a sudden rush of excitement. He knew that they were now going to stop the crisis and fight along the way. This was going to be a tough battle, but they were ready for this.


	10. Chapter 9

"They come," Tseng warned. Everyone got into their places and prepared for the attack. Rufus went back into the other room to get into his wheelchair, while the Turks lined up on either side of the door.  
The banging of doors and smashing of feet on the ground increased in volume, then once more, and another time. The door to their room bust open and they filed in.  
"YARGH!" Reno shouted as he leapt forward and forced a blow onto a man's head. He looked over at him and laughed.  
"Attack!" Tseng ordered. Rude, Tseng and Elena also jumped down and started an onslaught. They thought they were doing well until another wave of strange men then entered the room. They reacted back to their attacks and lunged them all across the room, one by one.  
As Tseng got to the floor, he rolled for some time before then regaining his balance and shooting at their heads. Not even a scratch was engraved from the bullets.  
"Your efforts are in vain!" one leading strange man mused.  
The Turks stood up and created a line. They stared their enemy up and down before starting again, but on a single enemy. This took the strange man by surprise and as their attack fell him, he wobbled slightly, then fell to the floor in a big heap.  
"Yeah!" Reno praised their work. It was tough enough to get a strangely armoured-skinned man to the ground, let alone a whole wave of them!  
"You will pay for that." The Turks froze. The strange men were still as statues. The woman who had spoken emerged from the door. Her hair was long, brown and tied behind her back. She wore a white lab coat which had the pockets stuffed with items. Her trousers were grubby, but didn't show their natural colour. They had been worn with age and, by the looks of it, so had she. Her face was wrinkly in some places, and her eyes were a deep brown.  
The Turks glanced at her and fear grew. This was their enemy.  
"Dr. Herman?" Tseng questioned. Elena smiled. She had a feeling the scientist was a woman. Reno dropped his jaw.  
"I thought Dr. Herman was a man!" he protested.  
"SILENCE!" her voice was commanding and deeper than any normal woman's. Reno thought for a moment before understanding.  
"Tseng, now's your chance! Shoot her!" Tseng saw his logic and quickly raised his weapon. His finger stopped before the trigger, met by an invisible force. His face strained with effort to release the bullet.  
"Now, Tseng! SHOOT!" Reno stopped speaking as he realised the other Turks couldn't move either. Their mouths were closed, so they couldn't speak and they were still in their stances, ready to move to the onslaught, but not being allowed to.  
"What have you done with them?" Reno asked, threateningly.  
"I suggest you keep your silence, if you favour your life!" Dr. Herman told him. Reno's face was a sea of emotions before he did as he was told. "I understand that you four have lightly damaged a employee of mine. I would like you to inform me of your," she cleared her throat. "rash actions." Reno decided what to say to Dr. Herman. He improvised, just how he always did.  
"Rash? I don't think so. We were only protecting Ruf-" Reno suddenly halted his speech - he had given away to the enemy that Rufus was in the building.  
"Ah, the infamous Rufus Shinra." Dr. Herman said in a sly voice. Anger burst inside of Reno.  
"IF you touch him, we will damage not only your 'employees', but you as well!" Dr. Herman stood by her minions and gave them all a kind look in turn. Reno thought she was just trying to avoid their conversation, but she was only winding him up. She walked among them for some time before addressing Reno.  
"Having a rash temper as such will only catalyse a downfall in all incompetent fools." Reno had had enough. His temper was soaring. He gripped his pole tighter and went to charge at her with his weapon in hand, but found that he too couldn't move. Fear started to grow in him as it had in the other frozen Turks. It rose over them all like a soaring bird before completely swallowing them whole. Herman, on the other side of the room, glared at them all, inducing the fear to a greater level. Then a grin appeared on her face and she knocked back her head, cackling like the old woman she resembled.  
After she had finished her sign of clear insanity, she looked around the room and wondered where Rufus could be.  
"Rufus?" she laughed slightly. "Oh, Rufus? Where could you be?" No one answered, so she turned round to address her minions. "Split up, search the lodge, find Rufus Shinra and bring him to me." They all replied in a perfect chorus.  
"Yes, Dr. Herman." The minions split into three equal search parties and one went trough every door of the lodge. Dr. Herman walked amongst the Turks and smiled to her achievement.  
"Do you like my genetically engineering skills?" she asked them, clearly understanding that they didn't. "It took me a long time to out-perform Hojo, but, after all, I am much better than he." She paused, liking the sound of her voice, she chose the next words with a smile. "Hojo robbed me of my rightful title! Naturally, he would have to pay, but as he is now out of the equation thanks to a certain ex-member of SOLDIER and a red cloaked brat, Rufus will join me as a punishment. He knew I was much better than Hojo, but he cheated in the entry examination! He cheated! Oh, but that needn't be a punishment; there will be some benefit to it all! Oh, yes. We will use our methods to use the planet's life source as a weapon. We will create monsters and rain down destruction upon all those who dare oppose us. And when the planet's life is all used up? Well . . . I guess we'll all move on."  
Dr. Herman cackled once more. She went on for ages before finally stopping to take in a large breath.  
"But I suppose you won't answer me; you're all frozen in fear!" She laughed lightly and decided to look at the Turks once more. She started with Reno.  
"Look at you. Why must you persist to not take pride in your appearance?" She sighed and moved on. Elena was next to Reno. It was her turn now.  
"Well, look at you. I must say, you look the part, but you must be one of those blonde fools!" If Elena weren't frozen, she would have slapped the woman and then shouted back at her, but in the present circumstances, that seemed impossible.  
Next in line was Rude. He had his fists raised and was staring forwards with a stern expression. Dr. Herman slowly looked him up and down and smiled.  
"Well," she said. "I like the look of you! Maybe you'll get to live for longer once this is over." She then walked behind him and stared at his rear. "Definitely!" she said with some excitement. Tseng was next. Dr. Herman walked over to him. She perched her chin on the shoulder of his raised arm and smiled.  
"And to think," she said. "You were going to shoot me!" She then blew him a gentle kiss and decided to feel his arms with curiosity. As she noticed they were quite muscled, she decided to stroke them.  
"Oh, fantastic!" she cried. "You'll also survive for a bit more."  
After Dr. Herman had finished molesting her two favourites, she sighed with boredom and paced the room. Not only a little while after she started this, her name was called.  
"Dr. Herman!" one of her minions called.  
"Oh, Rufus, at last!" she turned in the direction from where the voice emitted and waited for them all to emerge. Excitement grew inside her as she waited before it finally grew a greater level as Rufus was wheeled into the room by means of yet another minion.  
"Dr. Herman." Rufus said, casually. He was covered in his white sheet, so no emotion could be seen. Dr. Herman grinned broadly and waited as the minion set him into the middle of the room. She then walked towards him and started circling him, as if he were under interrogation.  
"Well, well, well." She said. Rufus kept his vision ahead of him, not daring to look her in the eye. Dr. Herman knelt down beside him and put her arms on one side of the wheelchair.  
"Rufus?" she asked, sweetly. He didn't look over. "Rufus?" she tried again, but with the same effect. "Oh, well. I guess you'll talk under a little pressure." She clicked her fingers and the minion who led him in the room moved towards Rufus, intending to cause harm.  
"Stop," Rufus commanded. He knew Herman only wanted him to talk, so he'd better get it over with. "What do you want from me?" Dr. Herman cackled slightly.  
"Well," she said. "In hindsight, you cannot give me my rightful job, so I presumed you would automatically get a job from me." Rufus frowned.  
"Why would I work for you?" he asked with a harsh tone as if it wouldn't solve anything at all.  
"Because, Rufus," she replied. "We work on a similar wavelength. We both know of a way to harness the planet's life force, but you can help me. I have outdone your pitiful excuse for energy and found a way to make ten times as much energy without the extra pollution." Rufus said nothing. Dr. Herman leaned her head over. "Not selling it to you? Let me try again. You will receive three times as much pay as you did when you were the director of Shinra Electric Power Company. You will join me in my power of the Herman Energy Project. How does that sound?" she asked him, convinced it would work.  
"Flattering," Rufus told her. "But," Herman's smile failed. "Haven't you learnt of the planet's life energy? You shouldn't be doing this! You'll kill the planet!" Herman laughed at him, loudly.  
"My dear, Rufus. Don't misunderstand me. You proceeded to cause the planet harm by continuing your father's work before you. Why are you suddenly so concerned about the planet? That's not like you at all, Rufus!"  
Dr. Herman smiled at him.  
"I acknowledge that Shinra owe the planet a lot, so it only seems fair that no one else is allowed to continue its work." Dr. Herman frowned. Rufus wasn't usually like this. He would go on about Shinra, but not about the planet.  
"Is that your excuse? Pitiful. Just pitiful!" Dr. Herman leaned over and cackled. She was enjoying this. "Let me put it this way, my dear Rufus. If you say Shinra have had their fair share of the planet's energy, then let Herman take its share. If you join us, then Shinra wouldn't be taking any at all now, would it?" Rufus sighed.  
"Your logic isn't at all up to scratch." He chuckled to himself. "You realise this is why I chose Hojo over you." At once Dr. Herman felt anger burn up inside. Being talked to like that about Hojo was one thing which she wouldn't stand for!  
"You accepted a cheater over me, Rufus! A cheater! He sabotaged my experiments before the practical exam. I surpassed him in the theory, so technically, I should have been chosen! Why, Rufus? Why must you persist to remain so ignorant towards your science department?" Her anger had shot out, but she was ready for more. She could continue her ranting easily. It would go on for so long, Rufus would turn mad, much like herself.  
Rufus chuckled to himself once more.  
"Well, if you're so confident about your intellectual capacity, then allow me to witness such events." Dr. Herman laughed, loudly.  
"Was that your acceptance to the offer, Rufus? Why, how meagre."  
"I guess it was." Rufus told her.  
"Excellent," Herman smiled, "Excellent!" She repeated, leaning into Rufus with a maniacal smile set upon her face.

Day had sailed past. The night sky had cleansed the horizon with its dark beauty and dragged forth the stars, constellations and all. The thick clouds had shrunk back to their original homes and had long since dispersed from the sky, creating a lovely atmosphere and a picture to hold within people's minds.  
As the sun started to minimize with every passing hour, Cloud and Tifa sat close to one another on a bench, just outside Elmyra's house. They had released their inner burden towards Aerith and now they felt much better for doing so. They were thinking of the heaviness of the morrow and sighed. First they had to find Cid, then they had to collect the others, ready themselves for a full-scale battle and finally attack this scientist and retrieve their chest.  
Elmyra, Marlene and Denzel had all gone inside to ready all of their dinners. It had only been an hour or so since they had gone out to the field of flowers that they had now returned. The stew was still not finished, but it would only take around ten minutes, so after the table was set, Cloud and Tifa decided to sit together outside, under the ever beautifying evening. They felt incredible sitting next to each other, and wanted this feeling to last.  
Tifa snuggled up to Cloud's arm and rested her head on his bulky shoulder. Cloud's heart fluttered, but he kept his expression neutral. It was normal for friends to do this kind of thing after all, wasn't it? Cloud thought so, so he remained quiet. He decided not to say anything after their whole chat about the day ahead of them. He felt like he should enjoy the moment as long as he could.  
Looking ahead of him, Cloud saw a huge, dark red shooting star whoosh across the not-quite-night sky. It illuminated the horizon in a red glow and vanished. Tifa suddenly raised herself from her position and looked at the point where the shooting star vanished.  
"Did you see that, Cloud?" she asked, almost childlike. Cloud smiled to himself and nodded with a small noise of acknowledgement.  
"We should make a wish, Cloud! Ready?" Cloud felt rushed. Somehow, Tifa always brought out the child within him and gave him excitement in everything they did together.  
"I wish-" Cloud began, but was cut off by Tifa.  
"No, in your head, Cloud. If you say it out loud, it won't come true." Cloud smiled at her childishness once more. It was nice to see Tifa this way; otherwise she would be nagging Cloud for something, at least. "Ready, Cloud?" she asked. He nodded once more and they both wished from the shooting star that passed them earlier.  
_I wish Cloud and I will make it through this and settle down together._ Tifa thought with all her might, her eyes shut tight.  
_I wish Tifa and I can grow old together, but have the time of our lives with one another._ Cloud thought. He didn't wish as strongly as Tifa did, but he did wish with a lot of hope.

A pleasant smell wafted its way around the kitchen and made its way to the dining room. Elmyra rushed around, frantically for five bowls.  
"What yer doin' now?" Marlene asked in her lovely voice, to which Elmyra replied with hers.  
"Dinner's ready, dear. I'm attempting to serve it now."  
"Oooh!" Marlene said, somewhat fascinated. She, however, made no attempt to even help her. Elmyra found her bowls in a closed cupboard and placed them onto a counter. She then laboriously heaved the cooking pot containing the stew up onto the same counter. It was wooden, so she needn't worry about burning anything.  
Marlene watched with increasing excitement and anticipation. Elmyra then sighed heavily and retrieved a ladle from a drawer. She opened the cooking pot and picked up a bowl with the other hand.  
"What's that?" Marlene asked her as she ladled some of the liquid into a bowl. Elmyra frowned. She wasn't enjoying Marlene's company at all, not at all like Tifa did.  
"It's a stew. We're all having it and I don't care if you say otherwise."  
Marlene sniffed.  
"That's mean!" Elmyra realised what she had done and quickly apologised. She didn't want to be on the bad side of the children.  
"Oh, I'm sorry, love." She leaned over, towards Marlene. "It's just that you're so demanding and I can't keep up." Marlene frowned slightly. She didn't understand the adult world much and probably wouldn't do any time soon. Her little understanding made her prone to say her childish things, rather than more complex, or interesting things. Sometimes it made some adults laugh, but that's because they found her sweet. Marlene kept to her usual childish things, except when she felt like "being an adult," where she wouldn't laugh at anything anyone said, and stand around with all the other adults and talk to them about their topics of choice. Whenever she did this, a lot of the adults around would still treat her as a child, but there were those who didn't; Marlene would stand around those people more than the others, until she got bored by the prospect of being an adult.  
Once the last of the bowls were then saturated with the watery solution from the cooking pot, Elmyra turned around and grinned, broadly, at Marlene who then smiled at her.  
"You look silly." Elmyra's smile faded, but she soon laughed as Marlene did in front of her.  
"Thank you very much, love-of-my-life! Now will you please help me set these bowls onto the table for us?" Marlene nodded and took a small bowl from Elmyra's hands which she held out for her. Marlene only took one, so Elmyra managed to expertly balance two more bowls in the cradle of her arm whilst carrying the last two of them.  
As she made her way to the table, she almost lost her balance, but her motherly skills prevented her from doing so. She dextrously moved the bowls to their places without dropping one, or spilling a drop.  
"Wow!" Marlene was staring at her from the other side of the table. "That's so cool!" Elmyra had a little chuckle and was going to smile, but decided not to – Marlene might laugh again.  
"Why don't you get every one to the table, dear? It would be an awful help." Marlene sensed the urgency in her voice and the plead, so she accepted without question. She ran off and Elmyra was left alone. _What a lovely child. _She thought to herself. _Maybe slightly strange, but that's lovely._ This was similar to the old days. She was cooking and helping other people, but wasn't that what she had been hiding from since Aerith was now gone? Hiding from the rest of the world as they continued on with their lives of no regret towards other people and their feelings? Aerith had been gone for a long time now, maybe it was time to change. _No, _she thought. _I'll never forgive him for letting her die! _She faltered with uncertainty. _But there's nothing I can do._  
"Alright!" Elmyra jumped. She had been standing in the room, alone and had thought to herself, and forgot about time around her. Denzel had entered the room and was now gawping at the food before him. He was about to tuck in when Elmyra stopped him.  
"Now where are your manners, little boy?" Denzel stopped and looked penitent for his hunger getting the better of him.  
"Sorry," he told her. She nodded.  
"I should expect so, too." A click, followed by a creak signalled the front door moving from its original position.  
"Everyone's here!" Marlene's voice sounded delighted as she walked inside, looking eagerly around the room. She had fetched Cloud and Tifa from outside and had brought them in. They followed, single file, Marlene to the table and sat down in their chairs. Elmyra waited for them to be sat before rushing off to fetch them all spoons. She returned with a handful of them and dished them out.  
"Thank you, Elmyra." Tifa said, kindly.  
"Thanks," Cloud told her.  
"Thank you, Elmyra." Marlene copied Tifa.  
"Cheers," Denzel said, smiling. Elmyra spiralled around the table, until she reached her seat and then sat to join them all. Denzel raised his spoon, but Elmyra stopped him.  
"Before we start, I usually pray a silent prayer." Denzel looked around, faces watching him.  
"Well, go on then." Tifa stopped him and frowned.  
"I'm sorry, Elmyra. Please continue." She smiled, reluctantly and lost her place.  
"Oh, yes. A prayer." She said, reminding herself. Denzel groaned and a sharp stare from Tifa followed. "It would mean a lot to me if you would all pray with me."  
"Of course," said Tifa, completely understanding. Elmyra looked around at them all and then closed her eyes and her hands met just under her chin. Tifa followed this gesture and started praying herself. Cloud and Marlene also followed suit, but Denzel was being somewhat picky about it all.  
"It's just a prayer!" he whispered to Tifa. She kept her eyes closed, but whispered back.

"Denzel! Just do as you're told!" Cloud grumbled something silently; his warning to Denzel for not listening. Tifa had spoken, and Denzel didn't want to be talked to by Cloud, otherwise he might be sent upstairs to bed without dinner. Staring to pray, he took it seriously.  
_Our Goddess, I wish, in the future, Cloud can teach me to be really cool, just like him and I also wish that I can have a good time here, even though I'm not really. And . . . and . . . and make sure every one is safe on their trip to wherever. Denzel . . . I mean, Amen._  
If someone were thinking really hard in the room at that time, they could probably hear all the prayers being generously offered.  
_To the dear Goddess of divine beauty and understanding, thank you for blessing me with the gift of Aerith, but I do not anger you for taking her away from me. It wasn't your fault, but it was your decision to take her away. I pray that Aerith's friends are all safe and sound and these two children will find happiness here. Let us live longer and in peace under your watch and let us not forget hope in you; for you are the freedom, the power and the voice forevermore, Amen._  
_Goddess, I look to you for guidance, for it is Cloud which I seek. I pray that you may help in whatever way you can, but, please, make it be enough. Thank you also for keeping us alive for so very long. This includes all our friends and both our orphans. Thank you for keeping the balance right in life and death. I pray that you can keep us safe for our journey tomorrow and let everything go well. I will not give up faith, for you are the hindsight, the love and the peace in the world, always and ever, Amen._  
_To the Goddess, it's Marlene here again. How have you been? Thanks to you, I've been okay and so has Denzel. We are now thanking you for the food which you've given us. Thanks, I was really hungry. So, I'm going now, but I'll be in touch later. Bye, Amen, or whatever._  
_Goddess, I know I'm not a regular visitor, but give a guy a chance. I thank you for watching over us for so long without my input and I love you for it. I know you can hear me now, Aerith. It is you I am speaking to, I'm sure. Thank you for all that you have done and please, watch over us in the future. I . . . I . . . I pray . . . that you can help me with Tifa. I would like to get closer to her. Don't think that I've forgotten about you because it's taken me so long to decide this. If I really didn't love you, I would have been with Tifa when you were still . . . anyway, thank you for your help. You can count on me for a revisit, for you're everything and even divinity itself, Amen._

"So, Rufus, what do you think of my mode of transport?" Dr. Herman had taken Rufus outside the lodge to which there stood a large ship-shaped shadow. It was an airship, but it was very different from the ones they had seen Cid pilot – this was modern, new, compared to his. The metal encasing the enigma looked a whole lot tougher than that of any metal Rufus had seen in the Shinra technology. It was coloured in many different places and stream-lined so the overall look of it made it seem as though it had come from the future.  
The airship seemed to be in the form of a great big dragon; the head being where to pilot the thing from. The forelimbs were tucked underneath its vast body and the hind legs were trailing behind it. Right now, the legs were tucked away, but ironically, smaller, mechanical wheels were holding the thing up. Rufus decided it looked rather silly, and smirked.  
The wings of the dragon were pushed out to its side and formed the wings – funnily enough – of the airship. They were slightly less of a dragon wing shape than they could be; they had to meet the criteria of the airship first, but the dragon wing shape was almost embedded into the metal.  
"Well, come on, don't be shy." Dr. Herman said. "She's a beauty, isn't she? I spent a lot of my work on her and it all paid off." She chuckled slightly. "Say hello to Yereci – Lady of all dragons!" Rufus looked at the thing from under his 'veil.'  
"Whatever happened to Bahamut, the Lord?" Dr. Herman scowled at him from his side.  
"I think a female touch is needed in everything, don't you?" Rufus chuckled quietly.  
"Never underestimate the male power in the force. You cannot forget it or put it to the side." Herman seemed suspicious by this comment.  
"We shall see." She told him matter-of-factly. "We shall see."  
Dr. Herman had only left the lodge for a moment, but none of her minions remained behind to keep an eye on the Turks; the invisible force she was supplying was eye enough. The minions had all taken Rufus and dispersed as quickly as a flock of birds being driven away by a mad dog. Maybe something was up that had to be taken care of, or maybe Herman didn't actually need Rufus in his work; she just wanted him for some crazy experiment. This could be the case if Herman was supposed to be in Hojo's place in the Shinra science department. Hojo was insane. He would experiment on people whenever he could find a valid 'specimen.' Rufus gulped. He didn't know what Herman was like.

Reno tried to move from the bonds still holding him firmly in place. Ever since Herman had left, the bonds hadn't weakened. It was as if one of the minions had remained behind to keep them there, but was hidden so they wouldn't know of his presence. Thanks to Herman's molesting of Tseng and Rude, they were considerably freer than Reno or Elena. They could move their torsos and their arms, but not their waist or legs. This was a bit of a pain, but they tried, desperately, to break free and to free the others.  
Tseng's finger, as soon as it was free, applied pressure to his gun trigger, as he had been trying to do for the whole while Herman was standing in front of him, and a tough bullet shot its way across the room and impacted on the opposing wall. It did quite a lot of damage for a bullet to a wall, but, in a way, it did give Tseng something to look at.  
"That Herman has a sick mind!" Rude told him. He didn't need to say it, but it made him feel slightly better now that he had. Tseng and Rude had another attempt to free themselves, but, again, it was in vain. With nothing more to do until they were free, they waited for some time before trying again, then again, but kept repeating this process.  
After a long time of trying to get themselves released, Tseng thought he had done it. He forced his weight forwards and stumbled across the room, falling onto his face. Rude laughed heavily, but fell over backwards with a crash onto the floor.  
"Now we're even." Tseng told him. For some reason, their bonds had broken. They looked over at Reno and Elena, but they were still miming an attack, just as before.  
"Eh?" Rude asked, as if it were a question. Tseng frowned.  
"Perhaps it was as Herman said." Rude also frowned.  
"What should we do?" he asked Tseng who then paced the room for a while. He was thinking of their current situation and all the people who could help them. After a long pause, he decided on the rightful action.  
"We call our friend Cloud." Reno gulped and realised how everything could all go horribly wrong. How much of a chance was there that Cloud would actually help them?

The meal had been eaten and the prayers prayed. Every one was sitting round the table still and was leaning back in their chairs. They were stuffed, but the children did force the stew down themselves. They didn't want to get on the bad side of Tifa, so they decided it would be best to eat it.  
Elmyra had smiled at them all for a job well done. She went to get up, but Tifa stopped her.  
"Elmyra, I'll collect the bowls. You sit where you are." Reluctantly, she agreed, but seemed to frown at this. Tifa rose from her chair and went round collecting the bowls. She then placed them in the sink and splashed them with water from the tap.  
"Can we get down now?" Marlene asked no one in particular. Cloud glanced at his watch and then back at her.  
"I think it's time you two" he looked at Denzel as well "went upstairs to bed." Marlene nodded her head, but Denzel seemed to argue. He frowned, but then he realised he wouldn't be able to do anything so followed Marlene across the room and up the stairs.  
"Those two seem like quite a handful." Elmyra acknowledged as the two disappeared up the stairs and the bedroom door closed with a bang. Tifa laughed to herself and Cloud hummed in agreement.  
"They're alright." He told her. Elmyra nodded. Just then, Cloud's phone sounded and started to vibrate. He fished for it in his pocket as both women stared at him and flipped it open.  
"Cloud speaking . . . Seventh Heaven is- . . . what can I- . . . but how? . . . I'll be right over . . . okay." Cloud flipped his phone back to its original place and dropped it into his pocket.  
"What's wrong?" Tifa asked him. Cloud rose from his seat and looked at her.  
"It was Tseng. He said something about Reno and Elena being frozen." Tifa frowned.  
"But what can you do?" Cloud shrugged.  
"They called me for a reason." Elmyra seemed interested.  
"Tifa's right. If you can't help them, you shouldn't go." Cloud seemed to think this over. It made sense, but he had told them he's come straight away. Maybe they could wait a little while longer.  
"Get some rest, Cloud. You'll need it for tomorrow." Tifa told him. He looked over at her, dazed, then nodded.  
"I guess you're right. Well, goodnight," he told them and walked up the stairs.

Tseng paced the room, walking past Rude every few seconds or so. Rude was slightly leaning on a surface, but his sight was resting on the door in front of him. Both were waiting for Cloud to come through the door any minute now, but for some reason, they had a tiny feeling that he wasn't going to come. They had been waiting for some time now, and they had annoyed Cloud in the past, but would Cloud really be that mean as to say that he would come, when he wouldn't? That wasn't like Cloud at all. Maybe he was stuck in traffic at this time of the night. Maybe he was about to come in now.  
"He'll be here." Rude said, almost to reassure himself. Tseng kept pacing the room, occasionally looking at Reno and Elena to see if their status had changed at all.  
"He's not coming." He finally said. Rude looked over at him.  
"What?" Tseng didn't reply. Rude knew exactly what he had said. "You sure?" Tseng stopped and lifted his head to look Rude in the face. He nodded. It seemed as though Tseng was one of the only ones in the Turks who really knew Cloud. It was strange if you thought about it. There were too many people who had seen Cloud but didn't know him so well. They didn't understand him very well, at all. He was silent, didn't respond to some comments and was very difficult to new people.  
Rude sighed. What was the point in waiting for him when he wasn't then going to come?  
"What can we do now?" he asked. Tseng kept standing in the room. He was the rationalist. He would think of something for them to do. Something rational, anyway. He blinked a few times.  
"You get some rest, I'll watch over Reno and Elena." Rude felt surprised. He didn't think something like that would come from Tseng, but then again, Rude wasn't so much of a rationalist as he was.  
"Won't you get tired? Staying up all night? I mean, you have to have some rest." Tseng chuckled.  
"That's why I'll wake you up when it's your turn." Rude wasn't warned about this before. He thought being given the chance to sleep all night was too good to be true. Rude slumped into the bedroom and closed the door behind.

Dr. Herman and Rufus had been flying in Yereci for a few hours now. The minions were also with them and were lining the edges of the inside, ready when needed. Just behind them were small, round windows which showed the darkening sky. The white stars were shining with different lights and with different hardness. The sky was clear, save for a huge cloud which was working its way over from the north. It looked dark, but maybe it was only dark from the sky behind it. The weather was cold outside, but that was only because of the current altitude. The winds blew strongly and met somewhere in the middle of the world to form a terrible coldness which trembled the earth beneath. If the winds were any stronger here, Rufus thought, Yereci may easily be thrown off course - but she kept going, to his amazement.  
"Interested, Rufus?" Dr. Herman asked. Rufus chuckled slightly. He had never really been so high in an airship. In his Shinra ones, he had only ever gone to a certain altitude, but he wasn't trying to break the new record for the highest. He had only ever wanted to go from A to B.  
"Showing off, are we?" he asked in a disguised sarcastic tone. Dr. Herman stared at him, hard. She looked into his eyes and narrowed her own.  
"What are you up to, Rufus? Should I reveal my plan to you, or something? Is that what you want? Would it make you happy?" There was a heavy silence. No one seemed to move, except Herman who was now circling the wheelchair. "You just love being the centre of attention, don't you, Rufus?" Again, he didn't reply. The thought of answering that question was too daunting, but the realisation of it wasn't as bad. "Do you forget who you now work for, or need I remind you?"  
"I work for you, Herman, of course. I know my place." This took Dr. Herman by such a surprise that she started backwards a pace or two.  
Rufus chuckled once more. "But then, I've always had that effect on you, haven't I, Darcie?" After Rufus had said this, Herman was lost for words. She was unable to find the right ones to use. Her next ones came out in such a hurry that she stuttered.  
"Y-you s-said my . . . of all th-the things to d-do . . . what d-did I tell you Rufus?! I told you strictly not to mention my name at all, and what have you done? You will pay for it."  
This had no effect whatsoever on Rufus. He smiled at her reaction.  
"Were the years well spent, Darcie? Can you recall what we were like? Our walks together, our first kiss. Do you remember what your life was like? And then your father died."  
"Do not talk about my father in such a way!" Herman then struck Rufus round the side of the face. His face stirred from the energy transfer and became red where she had hit him.  
"You're still the same person, Darcie." Rufus told her. There was a hint of desperation in his voice which came across to her as a lost memory; a memoire of a forgotten past. A past filled with such joy, loneliness and happiness. Rufus had taught her to love and had never been happier. But then her father had died, so then her mother had to cope with three children. Two of them were killed in an accident, and her mother had witnessed it. Darcie survived, but her mother was driven insane. She killed herself and left Darcie all alone. Before this time, when her father had died, Rufus was no longer allowed near Darcie at all. It was then believed that Darcie followed her wise father's footsteps and became a scientist. It was only when she heard of Rufus running Shinra that she went for the place of head of biochemical research - her speciality. Hojo sabotaged her equipment before the practical exam to make sure Rufus wouldn't pick her because of a "pitiful emotion" they used to share long ago.  
"So much has gone by." Herman told him. She was almost disbelieving it herself. "Where has it all gone? We were only by the riverbed a lifetime ago, but it seems like only yesterday. Where has the time all gone, Rufus?"  
"Come here," Rufus told her, spreading his arms wide. Herman thought about it for a moment, and then Rufus thought she wasn't going to. Herman walked over, and embraced Rufus. Her hugs felt like they used to; soft and warm and kind-hearted. But then Rufus felt something sharp stick him in the back and a pain seared through his body. He tried to move, but found that he couldn't. He chocked back a vast inhale of breath. His consciousness was fading and the last thing he saw was Dr. Herman. She had a tear on one cheek and said softly: "I'm so sorry, Rufus."

The morning weather was quite late in arising from the cold, dark nights. The sun took much longer than expected to heave itself out of slumber. Either this or everyone had forgotten the time and had misjudged it.  
Clouds had also forgotten to play, or even show themselves in the currently light pink sky. In a few hours, it would turn blue and most people wouldn't realise what had happened in the morning; they would just think it a normal day. The only cloud which was showing itself this morning was the very cloud which was present last night. It was like a blue whale, except able to fly and a lot darker and smoother.  
Cloud, Marlene, Denzel, Tifa and Elmyra had slept the night peacefully. Most of them were still sleeping, but Tifa was up. She was sitting upright in bed and was staring at the curtains dancing with the wind. She didn't know if Elmyra was awake, but for all she knew, she could have been.  
Tifa smiled to herself as she shivered from the breeze emitting from the window. She stood up, her long hair draping behind hair as it usually would in the morning and walked over to the curtains, pulling them apart. The bright light from the morning dew poured in and illuminated all it could. A strong breeze was also flowing in and Tifa reached up to close the window. The instant chance of temperature made her shiver. She instantly felt better and sat on the large windowsill to stare at the scenery.  
The waterfall was splashing as it was before and the fields of flowers were looking still very pretty. The dusty mud just outside the fields and under the house was moving the very slightest. The wind wasn't as strong as it was yesterday and Tifa was glad it had calmed down. Everything was very nice and pretty, but what about Seventh Heaven? Now that was gone, where were they going to stay once the scientist had been dealt with? They would have to start again. Maybe they could have the help from the slums like they did last time. If everyone really enjoyed going there, then they would help to repair it. It would only seem right.  
Cloud groaned from his bed. Tifa turned around and found him upright and rubbing his eyes. _Those gorgeous eyes,_ Tifa thought. She had now become less shy of talking about Cloud to herself. It had become more of a habit then before.  
"Good morning, sleepy-head." Tifa said. Cloud grunted in reply and stretched his muscled arms in a fashion that almost made Tifa cry out in an eclipse of pleasure. Cloud stopped and stared at Tifa.  
"What?" he asked, as she didn't look away or anything. Tifa blushed.  
"Nothing," she told him, lying. It was always hard to lie to Cloud, unless it was, of course, something small like that. If it was something big, Tifa had no chance in lying to Cloud whatsoever. She couldn't find the nerve to do it.  
"Anything interesting outside?" Cloud asked in a half-woken state. Tifa frowned, but shook her head. Everything appeared normal. There was nothing out of the ordinary. If there was, it wouldn't even be very interesting.  
"We'd best get a move on." Tifa told him.  
"We?" Cloud asked. "How long have you been up?"  
"Not too long, I've been sat here for a few minutes, that's all." Tifa gave a stretch, as did Cloud.  
"Are we ready for today?" Cloud asked her.  
"I suppose," Tifa said, unenthusiastically. She had hopes of playing with the children and maybe going for a walk before starting their journey, but she supposed that was quite out of the question. Maybe she could later, when they came back.  
"Let's grab something to eat, Cloud. Get our strength and energy. Wake us up." She seemed to think for a tiny moment. "I also want a shower, if I can." Cloud sighed.  
"Anything else you want, dear?" Tifa's heart leapt.  
"What did you just say?" Cloud looked at her in a puzzled way.  
"I said, anything else you want?" Tifa decided to dismiss this, but was sure he had called her "dear".  
"I'll get down and get some breakfast ready." She told him, and disappeared through the bedroom door.  
Cloud sighed again, stretched and gave another yawn. The children were still asleep, and looking at his watch, seemed as though they would be asleep for a lot longer. Cloud slipped out the bedroom as well and closed the door behind him.  
He turned around and found Elmyra standing in front of him, looking him up and down.

"And there I was thinking your hair was carefully positioned by yourself." Cloud wasn't paying much attention, but managed to realise what she was on about. He shook his head, violently for a moment and his stuck out hair from sleeping returned to its usual form.  
"Better?" Cloud asked her. Elmyra lifted a finger to her eye and wiped off something wet.  
"Thanks for that, dear." Cloud grinned.  
"No problem at all." He walked along to the stairs and descended them. Looking around the ornate room, Cloud could see Tifa over the table, in the kitchen, making something nice. No smoke was emitting from that area, so he presumed it wasn't going to be bad.  
A nice smell then took to the air and he breathed in deeply.  
"That's very nice, what is it?" Cloud walked along to stand next to Tifa.  
"It's just a simple bowl of oats. Why? Wanted something different?" Cloud shook his head. Anything made by Tifa was special, or so he thought anyway.  
"'I'll go set the table." Cloud said, helpfully.  
"You'd better set it for three, Elmyra's joining us." Cloud sighed once more, as he was apparently set to do for the day. He picked out the cutlery from the drawer and laid the table.  
Tifa was still fussing around as Cloud came over again to peer over her shoulder as to what she was still doing. Tifa smiled to herself like a little school girl, but carried on.  
"I shouldn't be too long now." She told him. Cloud smiled and crossed back to the table, he looked at the empty mug mats and thought about it. He knew it was only breakfast, but maybe they would be thirsty. But it was oats. Maybe it would be dry. Similar, tedious thoughts kept spiralling in Cloud's head for quite some time. They took over from other thoughts and pushed them away; filling up all of the space possible, even that of control for the body. It was only a simple choice - drink, or no drink - but the factors kept repeating themselves constantly. There was no escape.  
It was only when Elmyra spoke to him that he returned to reality with susceptible apprehension.  
"Cloud, I've called you once. Are you alright?" He blinked momentarily. The decisions of drinks seeped out of his head as if drained by some unknown source. It seeped out his ears, made a horrible mess on the floor and was then absorbed by the floorboards, back into the unknown from whence it came. Cloud almost fell over, but his wildly flailing arms stopped him and helped him regain his balance. The only thing he could think of to say was:  
"The potatoes were nice yesterday." Elmyra frowned.  
"We didn't have any potatoes yesterday. Cloud, are you sure you're feeling okay? There's nothing I can do?" He shook his head and blinked rapidly once more.  
"I'm alright. Thank you, Elmyra."  
"Breakfast's up." Came a voice from across the table, whose figure walked around balancing three bowls in her hands.  
"Oh, careful, dear." Elmyra walked past Cloud with a quick step and took the burden of a bowl out of her hands and rested it onto the table where, inevitably, she would then sit.  
Cloud remembered what was going on and then walked over to his dining chair where Tifa placed a bowl of piping hot oats on the mat.  
"Thank you, Tifa." Cloud and Elmyra's voices chorused together.  
Tifa thanked them both and then they prayed together. Thoughts of Aerith and the day ahead of them all and good tidings and fortune were passed around as they prayed. They formed together and entered the life stream where their call would be answered.  
They ate hungrily as though no food had passed their way for quite some time. The bowls were then cleared into a stack of three and moved towards the sink where Elmyra washed them. As she insisted, Tifa thought she would let her so then she could get up and ready for the day. Cloud and Tifa left Elmyra downstairs and went upstairs to the bathroom where they both stopped before the door.  
"I'll go," said Tifa.  
"I'll go," said Cloud. They bumped into each other and backed away again.  
"Should we both go?" Tifa asked. Cloud nodded and they progressed into the bathroom before closing the door behind them.  
Walking to the sink, Tifa grabbed a toothbrush which Elmyra said she could use and slithered some toothpaste onto it, then started at her teeth. Cloud walked over to the sink after she had done this and filled it up with water, splashing it onto his face every now and again. This was just what he needed. A little, light refreshment for the day. Something to wake him up.  
Tifa finished working at her teeth and washed out her mouth with clean water as Cloud got out of the way. Cloud started at his teeth this time and Tifa cleaned herself up. It was almost as if they were getting themselves ready for a party or something, ready for anything. Tifa then used the towel on the radiator to dry her face and she fussed at her appearance in the mirror.  
"You look just fine, stop fussing." Tifa smiled and looked up at him.  
"Cloud, come here." She used her hands to beckon him. Cloud reluctantly did so and Tifa brushed his hair with her hands, making it look a tad better than it was looking before.  
"Thank you." Cloud said, and opened the door. Tifa rose.  
"I'll be with you in a moment. I kind of need the toilet." Cloud nodded and closed the door behind him. Sure enough, he heard the bathroom lock click as he started walking back down the stairs. He bumped into Elmyra who then smiled at him.  
"Going already?" Cloud nodded.  
"I'm just getting my bike ready, then I'll wait for Tifa. Try not to get too mad at the kids when we're gone." Elmyra blushed at his comment.  
"I wouldn't dream of it, dear. I might as well help you with that bike of yours." Cloud agreed and they both descended the stairs and exited the house.

The wind was not at all like how it was yesterday; there was literally none of it. It was a lot warmer and the sun was shining thinly through the cloudless sky above them. Cloud looked over to Elmyra who was closing her front door. His bike was no longer where it was the day before; they moved it into the garage sometime when the wind seemed to be staying in its destructive state. Elmyra walked over to Cloud scanning the weather.  
"I don't like the look of that cloud over there." She told him, pointing, but Cloud wasn't interested. He was going to the garage where his motorbike was stored. As he started opened it, Elmyra realised what she had come outside for. She rushed over to Cloud as he went inside the garage to retrieve his motorbike. He kicked back at the hold which was standing the bike up and started pulling it forwards, outside into the open where it should be. Elmyra got to the other side and started pulling. She was looking at the motorbike in all other places because it interested her.  
"So, you must have a name for this thing."  
"I do." Cloud told her.  
"What do you call it, then?"  
"Fenrir," Cloud told her. Elmyra realised now why Cloud had an ear stud of Fenrir and a metal 'badge' of him as well. Fenrir was a wolf-like creature which Cloud liked. In some ways, he was almost seen like a God.  
Fenrir was then put out onto where it was the day before.  
"Just got to wait for Tifa now." Cloud told her, letting down the hold which kept Fenrir up. He then leaned against the other side and folded his arms. Elmyra frowned at him.  
"Now, I know how you feel about this girl." Cloud looked surprised as he looked over at her. "You felt the same way about another particular girl as well. I don't want you killing Tifa as you did with Aerith now, do you understand?" Cloud couldn't believe his ears. Why was she placing all the blame on him? If it wasn't for Sephiroth, then Aerith would still be alive and the crisis which they solved years ago wouldn't have happened. Cloud didn't kill Aerith, neither did he have the intention to kill Tifa. Why would he kill the ones he beloved? That seemed insane! If he did that, then he would be no better than Sephiroth.  
Cloud thought of all the possible ways to end this argument, but decided to end it coolly, rather than making it bigger than it already was.  
"I am so, so sorry about Aerith, but I have, however, no intention of harming Tifa in any way. You have my word and a promise." Elmyra stared at him in disbelief and then nodded to him.  
"Thank you." She said, a hint of relief sounded in her voice.

Tifa had finished with her toiletries and had now closed the door to the bathroom. She made her way back to the bedroom and saw both Denzel and Marlene still fast asleep, even though the curtains were still open and bright light was pouring in.  
She walked over to Denzel and patted him on the head softly before kissing him in the same place.  
"Good bye," she told him. "Be a good boy." Tifa would miss them both dearly and hoped they would behave themselves for Elmyra. She then walked over to Marlene and stroked her hair. It was soft to the touch, as usual, and wasn't out of place.  
"Good bye," she told her. "I know you'll be good."  
With her farewells done, Tifa walked back out of the room and started to close the door behind her.  
"Look out for one another, won't you?" Tifa walked along the corridor and descended the flight of stairs. She was feeling as if something bad would happen in which nothing could be helped. Anyway, there was no time to shilly-shally on such thoughts; Cloud was waiting for her.  
Tifa then strolled across the dining room and put her hand on the door handle. She opened the door slightly and heard the word "Tifa". She then opened the door fully to reveal Cloud and Elmyra talking quite closely next to Fenrir. The next thing Elmyra did was tell Cloud "thank you" for some reason. Tifa frowned and walked towards them.  
"Not missing anything, am I?" Cloud looked over at her and Elmyra jumped. She turned around and faced Tifa.  
"Oh, it was nothing . . . just small talk, that's all." Tifa chuckled slightly and walked around to the other side of Fenrir.  
"Ready to go then?" Cloud nodded and Elmyra moaned. She then opened her arms and hugged Cloud before going around and embracing Tifa.  
"Stay safe," she whispered in her ear. Tifa nodded as she let her go and Cloud started the engine on Fenrir. Tifa jumped onto the back of it and clung onto Cloud.  
As the motorbike sped off, with a loud roar, into the distance, leaving a trail of a dust cloud, Elmyra waved whilst standing stationary. Two faces watched from an upstairs window with a mixture of disappointment and sadness.


	11. Chapter 10

Tseng was now sleeping in the bedroom and Rude was "keeping watch" on Elena and Reno. The noise coming from Rude was overwhelming from the lack of noise which was coming from Tseng sleeping in the bedroom. He had fallen asleep whilst watching them both and now no one was watching if they could move once again. He thought nothing would be possible for them to regain their ability to move, and he was tired, so he gradually fell asleep whilst leaning on a surface. This was not such a good idea as he thought because he was now slipping on the surface and was going to land face-first onto the floor.  
True enough, he did, and awoke with a horrible shock. Screaming in pain, he raised himself from the floor and rushed to the bathroom where he would be able to clean it and but a white stitch-strip on his broken nose.  
Tseng awoke because of the racket and opened the bedroom door where he found a little splash of blood on the floor somewhere in front of him. He also saw that there was movement from Reno and Elena. For the first time in twelve hours at the most, they were able to move!  
"RENO! ELENA! You can move!" Tseng was overwhelmed with the prospect and went up to them both to help them in any way he could. He stood in front of Elena who shouted "charge" and caught her in his arms.  
"Careful, you." He told her and laid her on the couch standing at the other end of the room. He watched over Elena and called for Rude to watch for Reno. He came stumbling out of the bathroom and stood in front of him where Reno then went back to is last action he was about to do before being stopped by Dr. Herman; he smacked Rude in the face with his Shinra Baton, and then stumbled to the floor alongside Rude.  
"What's goin' on?" Reno asked as he attempted to rise from the floor, staring at Rude who also stared back with the same amount of curiosity.  
"You can move again after Dr. Herman stopped us all from movement." Tseng told him.  
"Oh, yeah." Reno said in monotone.  
"Cloud was supposed to come, but Tseng said he wouldn't."  
"Did he now?" Elena put in, staring at Tseng. He just frowned back and folded his arms.  
"Are you disagreeing with my judgement?" Elena smiled.  
"Well, you just always seem to get everything right." She told him. Tseng was about to add another comment when Reno interrupted him.  
"What are we going to do? Where's Rufus? Shouldn't we go and rescue him?" Rude shook his head. Elena and Tseng then joined him in saying:  
"Have you forgotten the plan?" Reno looked at them all as if he was in a dreaming state. He just stared, and when it all sank in, he suddenly realised what they had said.  
"Oh, the plan . . . when should we start it?" Tseng perambulated as he spoke.  
"Ideally, we should have gone when they had come for Rufus, so we need to buy for lost time."  
"How can we do that?" Rude asked as he walked past once more. He thought for a moment, sucking the tip of his thumb.  
"What have we got? Cars - not fast enough, motorbikes - slightly faster and more agile."  
"We could call their pilot, what was his name."  
"Cid," Reno told them. "He has an airship." Everyone nodded but Tseng, his eyes bulging.  
"Or we could use our own." Elena looked at him, shocked.  
"But you know the condition of that thing, it's ancient!"  
"Shinra technology at its finest," Rude speculated.  
"What are we waiting for?" Reno asked, getting up and brushing himself down.  
"Where did we keep it, again?" Reno asked them.  
"Near here," Tseng told him. "Remember? We were going to use it whenever Rufus needed an escape."  
"Like this time?" Elena added. Tseng sighed.  
"Has _everyone_ forgotten the plan, but me?" with that said, Tseng walked out of the room.  
"We should follow." Rude told them both and they nodded.  
Progressing outside, they found Tseng behind the lodge, not far from where Dr. Herman had landed her precious Yereci. He was searching for something of one of the rocks close at hand. As Reno, Rude and Elena came to join them, he carried on, ignoring them. And as he suspected, they all soon began to help him find something which he was looking for.  
"I don't remember there being anything on the rocks." Reno said. He sat back and leaned on one of them and watched the rest scramble and search in vain. This was beginning to get boring, and he wanted to get everything over with pretty soon.  
"Come on, guys." Reno said, after ten minutes. He waved an arm forwards and fell over because he was still unused to his movement. He fell backwards and a rock clicked underneath his foot. As he hit the ground, he presumed that he had found how to get to their airship, and soon enough, the ground started to rumble and moved away, slowly to reveal, in time, a ship-shaped silhouette, which started to rise out of the ground as Reno clicked another rock-switch, scrambling upwards.  
Different parts revealed themselves at different times. First there were spiky bits which took the light of the sun and were sticking out of the airship. Other parts which followed seemed to not make sense, but that didn't matter. So long as they knew how to pilot it, that would be fine.  
The body of the airship started to reveal itself now, rising further from the void and catching the rays of the sun. Curves were revealed and a huge exterior was beginning to show, until it suddenly stopped. There wasn't a massive interior - the outside told that much - but it was old, and surprisingly shabby.  
"It'll do," Tseng told them.  
"Yeah, for us small-fry!" Reno joked. Tseng was trying too move everybody on.  
"Come on, everybody in."

When Rufus had come round, he found that he could hear various sounds, but not see so clearly. It felt as if he was still in Yereci, but maybe he was wrong. His suspicions were confirmed when he heard Dr. Herman speak.  
"Ah, Rufus," she said. An extremely blurred image appeared in front of him, but he couldn't actually see if it was really Dr. Herman. "Can you see alright?" she asked, patronisingly. Rufus felt for speech, and he found, to effect, that he could speak. His voice was gravelly, unlike normal, but at least he could speak.  
"W-wha-t have . . . you do . . . ne to - me?" Herman must have found this funny because Rufus could vaguely see her doubling over, silently cackling.  
"Well, at least it didn't kill you. That's what it was supposed to." She cackled once more, only louder this time.  
"W-where . . . are w-we?" Herman looked around her and walked away. Maybe to a window, he presumed. When she came back, she stood in her place once again and smiled. Rufus' vision was getting slightly better by the minute. He could now make out part of Herman's figure.  
"We're just passing over some more mountains. We should be at my 'base' in around half-an-hour." Rufus smiled as best he could. "Don't make that face at me!" Herman protested.  
"To-ge . . . ther ag-gain." Rufus managed. Herman now frowned.  
"Get that idea out of your head, Rufus! Nothing is going to happen. Not something good for you, anyway." Rufus could see a bit clearer, and speak slightly better than before, but the overall progress was going o be slow - hours, maybe even a whole day!  
"Why di-di . . . dn't y-you k-" Herman cut him off.  
"Kill you? My dear, Rufus, why would I kill you? I was only stretching the truth. Sometimes there is no choice but to do so." She paused for some time. "But why would I kill an employee, anyway?" she laughed, as apposed to cackling and turned away to walk off to her duties. Rufus sighed, at least he thought he did, and moved into a more comfortable positioning in his wheelchair. This was going to take absolutely ages, so he thought he might as well get some rest.  
"Rufus," he heard, a long time later. "Rufus!" he was being shaken. His eyes opened slightly and saw Herman waking him. He could see a lot more clearly and now he felt as if he could speak a lot better as well.  
"Yes?" he asked. Herman shifted from one foot to the other.  
"We're almost ready to land. Not that you need to prepare or anything. I was just letting you know. Be ready to work when we take you inside." She said, walking off as she finished her sentence.  
Rufus sighed. He realised just how big Yereci was on the interior. He could see just how many of her minions were standing on the inside around the edge. He shivered as he felt uncomfortable and closed his eyes for a moment. He hoped he could just fall asleep there and then, but he wasn't feeling as tired as he did before he had slept. He had fulfilled his sleepy-duties, and so would remain awake for the rest of the day. He was right - sleep wouldn't take him - so he opened his eyes once again. Nothing had changed, besides the fact that Yereci had slowed down somewhat, but Herman was still in the same standing spot as before and her minions lining the edges were still there, like icing around a cake, but the icing had to move soon because Yereci was coming to a halt.  
Rufus chuckled as he thought of something. He lifted his arms up and stretched, silently, and then attempted to move his wheelchair forward. He presumed Dr. Herman would have put a brake on or something, but this wasn't the case, so he wheeled himself forward to sit next to Herman's standing figure.  
"Are we ready then?" he asked, acting as though he was eager to work.  
"What are you doing, Rufus?" Herman asked him. He smiled under his cover and replied coolly.  
"I'm eager to work, that's all." Herman frowned.  
"I thought you were the one who warned me about playing with the planet's energy. I'm sure you didn't want to work for me."  
"I've had a change of heart." Rufus added. Herman didn't do anything, but then, to Rufus' surprise, nodded her head in belief.  
"Alright," she said "I'll go with that."  
A little after their discussion, Yereci shook violently, but stopped much sooner than they expected; they had reached land. The hatch in front of where they were standing started to open and a strong wind licked its way inside and thrashed around. Putting a hand on her head to calm her hair, Dr. Herman shouted an order of some sort out to the minions and started to wheel Rufus outside.  
A few minions were going forward, ahead of Dr. Herman. Rufus' heart leapt a beat as he realised that they were carrying the box in which he wanted Reno and Rude to collect. He knew it wasn't the Materia one because he knew they had that one back in his lodge in Healin.  
Inside that box was something which Herman could use, he knew it. He knew that because he had been one of the few who had funded and even helped Tifa get her item. If Rufus could play his cards right, he might be able to get it and the plan might even be evaded.  
As Rufus was wheeled outside the airship, after the minions, his impression of the place was far greater than he had expected. He presumed it would look something like Shinra, but it looked nothing like it. If anything, it looked better than anything Shinra could do. They had landed inside a vast courtyard which lay in the middle of it all. There was the building lining the edges of the courtyard and the building was right at every square edge of it. Towers stood at, what seemed, random points on the buildings, but there were also huge satellites and radio transmitters. Rufus could also see, even from the ground, a much bigger wall standing just behind the building somewhere. It looked so solid that nothing could possibly damage it in any way. Barbed wire grew on top of it as well which didn't help for intruders, but Rufus doubted Dr. Herman couldn't handle intruders. He was sure there were many more traps which would put a stop to their break-in attempt, at least he hoped it was to keep people out.  
Wind here wasn't really a problem because of the large wall and the shape of the buildings inside. The green grass of the courtyard looked so bright that Rufus was beginning to wonder how far up in the sky you would have to go up for it to be out of sight. He looked around the courtyard once more and saw a collection of vehicles at one point. Airships, cars, motorbikes and what looked like-  
"Tanks," Dr. Herman assured him, as she looked in the direction he was. Rufus was beginning to doubt these vehicles had even been used. Why would you need any tanks in a well-guarded fortress anyway? Rufus looked around the courtyard, carefully, again and decided there was absolutely no way in which the vehicles could get out. It was only after he thought this that Dr. Herman had reached into her shirt pocket behind her lab coat and retrieved a small device which resembled a large broach. She clasped it firmly in her hand and her finger pressed down on some sort of button. Rufus frowned as nothing happened, and Herman replaced the gadget into her shirt pocket, by her breast.  
"Safe and sound." She said with a smile. Rufus continued to stare at her for a while as the effect of her gadget wasn't visible.  
"Whoa," he cried out as he suddenly realised what was happening; the ground by Yereci was moving downwards taking them and the airship safely into an underground hangar of some sort.  
_Actually, _Rufus thought to himself, almost aloud, _this is kind of interesting, maybe even fun._ He kept looking around at all that was going on. He was like a small child in a way which he was so interested in everything else. As the lift went down, carrying the minions as well, the lights turned on below them and to the side. This revealed many of the cogs and sprockets and machinery which was operating to the side, on the wall. Rufus presumed it was operating the lift which they were currently on. He stared at the complex lot of machinery and wondered how on earth that could possibly work. He knew about machinery and everything, but he didn't actually know how to do any of it himself. He was always interested in it as a small child, but later, he discovered he was more into science and the planet's energy. He didn't become a scientist himself, per ce, he just found a lot of the things he worked with fascinating.  
As the lift went down for longer and longer, Dr. Herman began walking to the edge, taking Rufus with her. She must have known they were near the bottom level because the lift stopped moving not long after. She ordered the minions and as they marched forwards, and out of their way, Herman started wheeling Rufus along once more. This was going to be interesting at the very least. Rufus decided he might actually see where this was going first, just in case he liked it. This was dangerous thinking, but he was doing it anyway.

The roar of wind was really quite loud as Fenrir sped along carrying Cloud and Tifa upon its back. Their speed was so great that all they could see at their sides were blurred visions of scenery. People had started to come out from their houses because it was the morning and various children were playing joyfully around, like they usually did. They were always so intent with their games as if they could ignore everything else, but naturally, you couldn't just ignore a speeding motorbike zooming through town. Tifa would always cry out if there were children who were quite close to Fenrir who would almost get knocked down by the sheer force they were moving with. Her eyes would always close and her grip would always tighten on Cloud's waist.  
After travelling for so long since setting off, Cloud decided to slow down near Seventh Heaven so they could take a look at the damage that had occurred. It was such a horrific thing to happen - to blow up their home, but maybe it wasn't all that bad. Maybe there was major damage to most of it, but perhaps a lot of what they wanted to keep had stayed safe from the fires and the explosion. _Yeah, if you think the impossible._ Cloud thought to himself, sarcastically.  
As Fenrir sighed with ease and into silence as they pulled over, cooling the engines in rapid succession. Cloud dismounted and started to stretch and Tifa frowned at him.  
"Cloud, what are we doing here? Aren't we supposed to be outside Midgar?" she then dismounted as well and gave a short stretch. "Hey, isn't this-" her question was answered by the dim silence which followed. She was then too upset to say anything. She walked along, closely to Cloud and started to cry, bit by bit. Cloud had walked ahead, but had stopped now. He made sure Tifa caught up with him and then decided to break the silence.  
"Cid should be coming into Midgar for fuel. I just thought it'd be nice to have a break from driving for a bit." Tifa nodded at him, but the destruction of their home couldn't be ignored for long.  
Seventh Heaven used to be such a nice place. Now all that remained of it was a small standing wall which led to a corner. Many of the bricks from it were missing, but that's all that remained of the bar. _If only it were more!_ Tifa thought.  
Black bits of rubble and all else were gathered on the floor and resembled how much damage had occurred. Everything was burned because of the bomb, and everything destroyed. Great mounds of ash were gathering here and there, maybe the roof had fallen in last of all and had burned for so long with the rest of it that the pile of ash was what remained of it.  
Cloud put his hand towards bits here and there, testing to see if they were still warm or not. Everything was cold with sadness, remorse, and because of the memories being exorcised from them. At least the fire had finished its destructive wave of vicious death.  
So many memories had been there in Seventh Heaven, but now those memories had been destroyed, along with everything else. What was the point in staying here and longer? Perhaps they could search the rubble for objects which they could remember things about. The now alien building looked so out of place in its position, but thankfully, the explosion in Seventh Heaven had only been caught inside. No other building was burned or destroyed in some way.  
"What should we do, Cloud?" Tifa asked through choked back tears. Cloud came along and hugged Tifa, not intending to let go.  
"We could stay here and wait for Cid to come to us. This would be the first place he would look. If we were to look for him, where would we start?" Tifa agreed, but had no idea what to say to that. She knew he was right, however. They continued to search the rubble for objects resembling memories in some way. This continued for minutes until they were interrupted by a visitor.  
An old man hobbled his way along to where the front entrance of the bar would be and then realised what had happened. He gasped and looked up, into Cloud and Tifa's eyes who stared back with the same amount of disappointment. He wore a grey top which seemed to be very thin, and a pair of black trousers which seemed to make his white wispy hair on top of his head shine with luminescence. As he started making his way towards Tifa's very familiar face, as he was a customer and knew her well, he almost fell over and started speaking to them both.  
"W-wha-at's happ-pene-d?" The old man started, but Tifa left Cloud to his searching as she walked over to the old man. She threw the piece of rubble away from her hand back onto the floor and wiped her hands on her leathery skirt. She then extended her hand for the old man to shake and as he reluctantly did so, she started to speak.  
"I'm Tifa, the owner of this bar. Well, I was until it was destroyed." The old man had a look of amazement on his face.  
"How was this bar d-des . . . troyed?" It was almost as if he was afraid to ask the question. Tifa smiled at him to reassure him nothing too bad had happened, so she decided to lie to him; giving him the truth might scare him entirely.  
"Children these days are terrible. I'm sure they were from the slums. They must have had something against Seventh Heaven." For a lie, it wasn't half bad. Tifa watched as the man started to believe her.  
"Children indeed," he said. "Listen, do you know how much this will take to be rebuilt?"  
"Oh, upon estimation, about twenty-million Gil, maybe even more." Then Tifa realized why he had asked. She gasped. "You're not going to give me _money_?" The old man nodded and explained.  
"This was my favourite bar and has always been ever since I had seen it. It makes a change from the poor ones on the other side of town. A nice change. It's the only way in which I can get out of the house and away from the wife for a while. But if it's rebuilt, I promise I will bring her with me when I go." Tifa smiled as he talked about the memories and then a single tear flowed down her cheek. With a finger, she wiped it off and returned her attention to a response.  
"Thank you, but you don't realise how much this meant to us - it was our home!" The old man nodded.  
"Yes, yes, of course." He fumbled into his coat pocket for something. A moment later, he pulled out large, brown wallet. He opened the top and started collecting coins in his hands. "How does twenty-thousand Gil sound?" Tifa gasped. She couldn't believe it.  
"Sir, are you completely sure you want to give us so much money to help us rebuild our bar?"  
"What have I just told you about it?" Tifa nodded, but said the same thing again. "Take it," the old man said, pushing his closed hands forward towards her. "I want you to use it all. For me." He finished and Tifa cupped her hands in order to accept the Gil and smiled greatly as another tear poured down her cheek, this time from happiness.  
"Thank you," Tifa said. "Thank you!" she repeated. She felt overjoyed that someone would do such a thing for her to make sure their home was restored, and so the bar would be rebuilt for the benefit of others as well.  
"I'll get back to the wife now." The old man said as he turned away and started hobbling back from whence he came. Tifa watched as she thought how sweet that was. Wouldn't it be nice if Cloud and Tifa got married and grew old together, never leaving one another for too long? Wouldn't it be sweet if they would always love and care for one another without hesitation or discomfort. At least, that's how Tifa pictured it in her mind. For so very long now she had been thinking thoughts based upon Cloud and herself like this, but only now had she had another moment to revisit them.  
Tifa turned back around herself and was surprised to find Cloud standing there behind her, staring with those gorgeous blue eyes. A moan of absolute pleasure almost escaped her, but as she covered her mouth with her hand, it was ceased. Cloud smiled at her for doing such a thing, but he was also curious to why she did that. As Tifa didn't say anything afterwards, he decided to lead the conversation.  
"So," he said. "What did that man want?" Tifa removed her hand and took a big breath to calm herself. She then lifted up her hand holding the Gil and showed it to Cloud.  
"He gave us twenty-thousand Gil to go towards the payment to pay for the bar." She started to weep, there and then. If it weren't for Cloud, she would have collapsed onto the floor. Cloud caught her and lifting her up, embraced her in one of his hugs which always felt full of love and felt as if he would never let go. He felt so thrilled that he was doing something which he would never usually do because he felt like a child; overjoyed with the fact of playing with someone like this.  
Cloud started to laugh with happiness. It was slow, right until he started to swinging Tifa around while still hugging her. Tifa felt quite thrilled as well and stopped weeping, realising how happy Cloud felt. She opened her eyes and saw him below swinging with extreme joy and she joined him in laughing. It felt as if their troubles were now forgotten. They felt as if everything would be alright from this moment onwards.  
This continued for a few minutes, until a sudden rush of, what seemed, an invisible force, pushed Cloud over and he landed on his back. Tifa was on top of him and remained unharmed from the fall. A huge wave of emotions swept over them both. Tifa could remember thinking of a situation like this before. She had been waiting for a moment like this for what seemed like eternity. At last, fate was on her side. She stared into Cloud's gorgeous blue eyes for another moment, making sure Cloud understood the situation too. Their passionate faces were only inches apart. Eventually, they would have to get up, but neither wanted to do so straight away. Tifa started to lean in, and as she got closer, Cloud didn't hesitate. He moved his head upwards and closed the final gap.  
As their lips met, Tifa started to put her hands on Cloud's head, just as he had done with her. They kept the kiss as it continued, overpoweringly. At last, Tifa wasn't afraid that Cloud no longer felt differently towards her. She kept kissing him and kissing him, until they both felt like they had fulfilled their need within them. As they moved their heads back, the look in one another's faces was completely different. Now they couldn't hide anything towards each other.  
"Wow," they both said in unison. And chuckled after doing so.  
"That was amazing!" Tifa told him. Cloud blushed and nodded his head. They both started to get up and stood, looking in one another's eyes, their hands holding the other's. They kept staring into the eyes of the other and lost themselves in complete joy and amazement. This was it. This was how they felt. This was what they wanted to do for the rest of their lives; be with one another. That much was certain. What wasn't certain was the bad times that they might have in the future, but now wasn't a time to be thinking like that. Now was the time for happy thoughts.  
Cloud leant forward and kissed her once more, this time on the cheek. Tifa turned a deep scarlet. Cloud followed suit. They smiled and had another hug, before finally resuming their search for important items in the rubble.  
"I think we should - " Tifa said.  
"Yeah . . ." Cloud returned. Their hands were released and their bodies were missed as they started searching into the rubble once more.

For some unknown reason, Tseng, Elena, Rude and Reno had managed to get into the airship, start the hidden engine, raise the airship from the ground, start it flying and even speed it up towards the direction of Rocket Town. It had been quite a hassle to start everything and to get the airship in motion. It had been all worth it, however, because how else would they have been able to get there to help Rufus and to initiate the plan? How else would they know Rufus would be okay? And how else would they be able to make sure the box was obtained?  
Speeding along at an unknown speed, but they were sure it was faster than anything moving normally, they cut through clouds, whizzed through flocks of birds and even shot past very tall standing rocks. The only missed them by pure luck as they didn't know how to control the airship yet.  
"So, any idea how to direct this thing?" Reno asked as they all sat in the cockpit, searching for a way to manoeuvre the thing. Tseng had been quiet for a long time, but now he spoke.  
"I believe it's something to do with this," he leaned over to a few buttons and pressed one. A mechanism whirred and opened up, revealing a controlling device of some sort. "And this." He finished, pressing yet another button which revealed another, similar looking device.  
"Wow," Elena said as she gingerly put a hand on one of the controls. The whole thing didn't move, but she felt at ease when she found that she could do something about the airship, if needs be.  
"I'll be the co-pilot!" Reno shouted, running to the second pair of controls. He sat down in a nearby chair and dragged it towards the controls. It was on wheels, so it didn't matter too much, but everyone else sighed at him when he did this.  
He lightly touched the controls and the whole airship lurched.  
"ARGH!" They screamed in fright as Reno turned the controllers this way and that, trying to correct his mistake. The whole force of the lurching and the tumbling of everyone inside created a whole sense of fear which destroyed their hope of escape and of pulling off any such plan which they had conceived before.  
"REEENNNOOOO!" Tseng shouted as they were all spun around like laundry in a washing machine.  
"I'm TRYING!" he returned as he fiddled with the controls for longer and longer. It seemed like an age before finally, Reno managed to stop the airship from spinning and he let go of the controls.  
"Gee. That wasn't so bad." He said, almost to himself. He looked behind him and found everyone in a heap on the floor. Arms were sticking out and legs were in odd places, but nothing out of the ordinary.  
"Do you want some help?" Reno asked as they clambered, labourously, up to their feet. They all seemed to then walk towards him with an evil look in their eyes.  
"What?" he asked. They kept walking closer, this time with their hands outstretched in front of them, wanting to grab as soon as possible. "What do you want?" They kept coming forward until their hands all had a purchase on Reno. They lifted him up and dragged him out of the room. "Hey, what the-"  
As they slammed the door and silenced Reno's speech, they locked it to prevent him from re-entering and making something go wrong again.  
"What a relief!" Tseng sighed. They could possibly continue their journey in peace. Without the addition of Reno, mistakes seemed like an impossibility. It was almost as if a giant weight had been lifted from their shoulders.  
"Tseng, you'd better check this." Elena called him over. She was looking at a screen which showed the airship's positioning. As Tseng stood by her side and looked into the screen, Elena pointed a finger to it.  
"It seems like we're a lot closer to where we should be. We couldn't have sped up that quickly. Do you think Reno managed to speed us up somehow?" Tseng frowned.  
"It's a possibility."  
"Then shouldn't we let him back in so we can get there a lot quicker?" Tseng didn't hesitate to respond to this.  
"If you really want us all to be killed, then you called always let Reno have his way, but if you want us all to live, then I suggest you leave Reno where he is." Elena sighed. She saw the logic in Tseng's words, but she also saw sense in her own. She looked over at Rude, wishing they could both persuade Tseng otherwise, but she decided it was better to stay silent, so she did.  
"Now, continue with the piloting of this thing. You still remember where the base is?" Elena nodded. She couldn't be bothered to speak any more; her words weren't of any dramatic effect.  
Tseng started to perambulate the mid-sized room and continued this for some time. He kept passing Rude who was sitting down in a chair, looking rather comfortable.  
This all stopped when a miniature grinding noise could be heard from within the very airship. It sounded as though things were doing as they weren't supposed to. A moment later, in addition to the grinding noises, the whole ship lurched. It felt as though something was very wrong with it indeed. The lurching didn't subside, it continued and carried on until it was a wave of uncontrollable havoc. It was only after Tseng regained his balance that he realised what had happened.  
"Reno," he muttered. Elena moaned as she tried to keep the airship steady, but as the movement had increased, she was finding it difficult.  
"Wait," Elena commanded as Tseng was about to exit the room and deal with Reno. He stopped, door unlocked and open and turned to see what Elena had to say.  
"The ship's going faster, much faster. I think Reno's only trying to help. Look, we're moving to the base quicker. We should be there in about twenty - fifteen minutes. We should really be thanking him."  
Tseng thought for a while before deciding and left the room, closing the door behind him. Elena sighed and slammed her fist onto a control pad which resounded instantly. _Why can't he just listen to me?!_ She continued piloting, but couldn't help sulking at the same time. If things weren't so stressful in the Turks, she would probably be the problem within it. But because they had Tseng, he had the job instead.  
"What do you think he'll do?" Rude asked as he jumped up from his chair. This sign of movement was slightly strange for Rude, but he was favourable to physical attacks, and he did move quite a bit in action.  
"Who?" Elena asked him.  
"Tseng," Rude started pacing the room like Tseng would usually do, imitating him. Elena laughed.  
"I think he'll probably give him a good talking to; you know what he's like!"  
"Mr. Degree-In-Talking!" Rude started laughing as well. After a moment, they couldn't think of anything else to say and quietened down. There was a seriousness in the air, but it wasn't quite understood.  
"Do you know what we're doing when we get there?" Rude asked.  
"We fight," Elena suggested. "Or we look for Rufus."  
"Do you think Cloud will be there?"  
"Hmm, maybe. I'm not sure because I don't know where he is."  
"Will he be bringing any back-up?"  
"I don't know, Rude! What do you think I am? Answer to all answers?" She laughed slightly. Rude didn't.  
"I'm nervous, Elena." He told her. "In all honestly, I'm not even sure if we can do this. Maybe something will happen that we can't un-happen. Maybe nothing will go right . . ." Elena stopped him with a light cough.  
"What kind of talk is that?! You're a Turk! Turk's aren't supposed to talk like that! Of course we will pull it off! What has ever gone wrong in the past that's our fault?"  
"Well, there was the time where we accidentally got you captured by that large man near Wutai, and there was the time -"  
"Okay, stop! I get the picture." Elena sighed. "What I'm trying to say, Rude, is that we can do this. How hard can it be to actually pull this off?" Rude was about to answer, but Elena stopped him. "On second thoughts, don't answer that." Elena smiled, but when Rude didn't, she tried to make him. "Come on, cheer up. I'll promise you it will be alright. I mean, just remember the plan and we'll be fine." She reached out a hand to him, and eventually, Rude took it and smiled, feeling slightly better.  
He let go of the hand as soon as the door burst open behind them. As the metallic door banged onto the inside of the room, Reno stormed in, followed by Tseng.  
"Now behave yourself, Reno!" Tseng told him, watching, sternly as he closed the large door.  
"Yeah, yeah!" Reno whinged, making Elena laugh lightly and Rude smile. At least the last push of their journey would be interesting, maybe even fun. But as Tseng started another conversation, they realised the seriousness of the situation.  
"What do you think is in that box? It has to be something of vital importance, otherwise why would Rufus want to get his hands on it, or why would Dr. Herman want to get her hands on it? Do you think it's something to do with the planet's energy? Something which can destroy life on earth? If that's so, why was it in a box belonging to Tifa?"  
No-one spoke as they realised everything could go horribly wrong if they arrived too late.


	12. Chapter 11

The impression Rufus had got so far of the Herman Electric Power Company was very impressive. He had been given a quick tour of the place by Dr. Herman herself. Rufus was impressed because it was absolutely nothing like Shinra. It was a lot fancier, but he thought that wasn't even possible.  
He saw scientists behind glass windows experimenting with different things, looking through microscopes, checking machinery, creating controlled experiments, discussing things in the meeting room and even writing down everything which they deemed useful. He didn't see, however any of the scientists with the box he was looking for. The robots carrying it had disappeared a while back. He was sure Dr. Herman wasn't going anywhere near it because she was near him, leading him on.  
Rufus had a huge smile on his face once he had seen all of the company's grounds. Dr. Herman didn't notice because she was standing behind him, pushing his wheelchair. When she put him on another lift, however, she crouched beside him and noticed.  
"Oh, I take it you like what you've seen then, Rufus?"  
"Well," he said. Herman smiled too.  
"What does 'well' mean, Rufus?"  
"It means, yes. Of course it does."  
"Well, I am impressed with your white suit, Rufus. Now we have something we both like about each other." She sounded like she was patronising a child, but Rufus kept his cool.  
"Dar-" Rufus began, but stopped. "Herman, I think you have impressed me enough to make me stay." She gasped.  
"Really?! How on earth did I manage that?" she chuckled to herself, Rufus joining in.  
"So, where are you taking me now?" Rufus asked in a curious tone.  
"I thought I would take you to an office of mine to start with, if that's alright with you. We'll do some paperwork and then we'll get you to go to . . . hmm, where would you like to go? A laboratory, a testing area, an office, where?" Rufus thought for a while as he was completely unsure of where to go after the office. He had to think fast, but as Dr. Herman was being such a nice character at the present time that he was almost reconsidering her bad or not. He was lost in her aurora of beauty and kindness.  
"Rufus?" Herman waved a hand in front of his face. "Rufus?" she tried again with the same result.  
"Could I move around from a testing area to a laboratory and to an office?" Dr. Herman was surprised by his request, and almost declined, but as she was being nice and was getting him to work for her, then she put a smile on her face and continued what she was doing before.  
"Of course, Rufus, my dear. As long as you'll enjoy your stay!"  
"Wow!" Rufus said. Herman looked concerned.  
"What have I done now?" Rufus chuckled.  
"You're being too nice. This isn't like you at all." Dr. Herman chuckled, defiantly.  
"Any more of that and I will go back to killing you. Would you prefer that?" Rufus removed his smile and shook his head. Staying on the nice side of Herman seemed the better idea.  
"Shall we move off then?" Dr. Herman asked. Rufus nodded and was then lead, in his wheelchair, forwards, past corridors this time and through more conjoining halls. As he was wheeled along, Rufus presumed that most of the labs and testing areas were in the part behind him. This part of the base seemed to be the nicer part; there were lavish lamps and lighting everywhere and the walls were decorated, but not too heavily. It made a nice change and Rufus thought he was in a place which was too important for him. At least he was wearing a suit, so he fitted in to a certain extent.  
As Dr. Herman kept going on and on, eventually, though the route took at least a dozen corridors trips and a couple of conjoining hall trips, they arrived to an area which Rufus presumed to be Dr. Herman's office. It wasn't over-decorated, but it still had the air of importance around it.  
"Yes, this is one of my offices." Dr. Herman said as she stopped and leant down beside Rufus, looking into his face. "I think this is my best one, if it's not, then this is my favourite."  
"Shall we go in?" Rufus asked, slightly impatient. Herman scowled, but nodded as well.  
"Very well," she said. She wheeled Rufus forward once more, to the base of the giant, gold vulture which stared at them both. The eagle seemed to be the entrance to the office, or so Rufus presumed. He waited for Dr. Herman to correct him if he was wrong, but as she walked forwards and opened a control panel concealed just beside the vulture. She tapped a series of buttons and closed it again. After she did this, the vulture began turning around and around, not very fast, but fast enough for Rufus to realise that he was absolutely right.  
_Should have a retina scan, or a thumb scan or something more. Seems as though she doesn't want her office to be safe enough. _Rufus thought like this for a while, but kept quiet because he didn't want to give them ideas. _What was her code? 52641 I think._ Rufus locked that number to memory and smiled as Herman returned to him. He was pushed into one of the gold steps and Herman stood beside him, knowing full well that Dr. Herman had no idea he knew her code for her office.  
The gold step, like all of the others before this one, went and spiralled upwards, following the previous one. As they disappeared around the corner, and into darkness, it seemed as though a claustrophobic paranoia could overcome them at any second now. They kept their sanity for a while as they turned upwards towards light. They looked at each other with a kind face, almost reassuring the other that they weren't going insane from the absence of light.  
As they disappeared into darkness once more, it wasn't long before they came to the top of the spiralling gold staircase. It slammed to a halt and made them wobble so as to not fall back down the way they came up. The gold steps were big, big enough to fit both of them onto one, but they were also sturdy and wouldn't allow them to fall off them, unless they were being silly.  
"So, shall we go on?" Dr. Herman asked as she brushed herself down and put a large smile on her face. Rufus smiled at her and nodded.  
"Of course," he said. Herman wheeled Rufus into her office and sighed with content. Her office was large, and quite spacious. You'd have thought with all of the tables, bookcases, shelves and other such objects that the space in the room would be diminished, but in actual fact, it hadn't diminished at all.

There were several bookshelves lining the edges of the room, almost as if they were guarding the possessions in the room. Each and every one was stacked with completely different books of different sizes and a few of them had managed to find their way to Herman's desk, behind which was a very large and ornate window which was protected by a metal mesh on the inside. Light just fell inside from the window and made a collected mess on the floor. The floor was a glorious carpet which seemed very comfortable under foot and even looked inviting in some way. The wallpaper was similar to that of the carpet and couldn't really be seen as the bookshelves took up most of the wall space.  
Rufus looked around the room, under the tables, upon shelves and at the top of the bookshelves from the safety and solitude of his wheelchair. He was looking for the box which really belonged to Tifa. He couldn't see it, but presumed he would be able to find it when he began his escapade after this short meeting with Dr. Herman.  
Herman walked forwards past Rufus and sat down on her desk. She started rummaging the papers and the books and every other object which seemed to have claimed ownership of her desk. As she kept doing this, Rufus used his control system on his wheelchair to move himself to the other side of Herman's desk. As he did this, Dr. Herman found what she was looking for and raised it from its papery stronghold.  
"Here it is." She exclaimed, looking rather happy at the prospect of more paperwork. Rufus didn't move or even say anything, he waited for Herman to continue. "Well," she said. "I will need to fill this in and then that should be it. You can then go and get started." Rufus smiled at this. He was eager to sabotage their plans and every thought about that was making the thought of it worth thinking.  
"Could you -" Herman stopped speaking as she looked at Rufus. "I'll fill it in."  
"I'll do it." Rufus said, surprising Herman instantly. She frowned.  
"But you're -" again she stopped. Rufus smiled.  
"I'm not completely useless," he told her. Herman reluctantly nodded and then passed it over to Rufus along with a pen and a book to lean on.  
"Have you got that?" She asked, almost fussing like an old woman. Rufus nodded and began his paperwork. He thought about filling it in with haste so that he could get on with searching for the box, but he presumed Herman would find that just a bit suspicious, so he took his time, all the while thinking of what would follow.

Cloud and Tifa had been searching for so long now. They had found a few things, but they happened to be quite useless; a broken half-pack of tissues; a few, burnt drawings of Denzel and Marlene's and a small mug which they used to keep for themselves. The plate of cookies was completely demolished, however and there was only one cookie which remained which was charred to almost nothingness and was sure to crumble if touched.  
A little while later, they decided to have a break and as their drinks dispenser wasn't working, they thought it'd be best to go to the café around the corner of the street. They were going to see what it was like and just have a break, reminiscing on good times and even over-looking their new relationship.  
"Come on, Cloud, I'm really exhausted." Tifa moaned as she clambered over the debris once more to the entrance of the bar. She looked back behind her and Cloud was moving closer. The look on his face was quite charming and Tifa sighed with pleasure. She was looking forwards to the times ahead of them all and was almost lost in complete ecstasy.  
"Are you sure you want to do this?" Cloud asked as he finished walking towards Tifa.  
"What do you mean?" she asked him.  
"Well, it is another place. We haven't even been there before because we've always been in Seventh Heaven."  
"I know," Tifa told him. She smiled and as Cloud put his arm on his hip, she threaded her own through and they started walking away to the café a short walk away.  
As they walked, they talked about all they could. It was fun and they were still enjoying themselves. It was only when they had arrived to the café shortly after that they stopped talking because they were curious. They saw several tables lined up outside with chairs and a striped umbrella open, standing above each one of them. There were a few people who they recognised as customers of their own. Tifa smiled at them as Cloud and herself found a table to sit down at. They drew back the chairs and sat themselves down.  
Shortly after, a waiter appeared and Tifa felt as though this would be one of the places where most of their valued customers would go.  
"Hello Sir, Madam," he said, nodding his head. He was wearing a white shirt, a black waistcoat and black trousers which really did make him look so much better than the ordinary waiters. Tifa couldn't see his shoes, but she presumed they were of a good quality also. He had a moustache which curved at the edges and gave him a more sinister look about him. Tifa chocked back a laugh as she thought the only thing missing from him was a bowler hat and a cane.  
"Are you here for a full meal, or are you having a little something nice?" his voice was quite normal, to Tifa's surprise.  
"We are only here for a short break. Is there anything which you'd recommend?" Cloud asked as Tifa marvelled at this strange man. She then realised that all of the waiters were very similar; they were all men and they all wore the same, curved moustache on their upper-lip. She frowned and pursed her lips. _Where are all the waitresses? _ She asked herself.  
"Is that for the both of you, or just for yourself, Sir?"  
"It's for us both, thank you." Cloud returned. The waiter seemed to glide off and Tifa only just realised that she had no idea what Cloud had ordered. She felt a pang of annoyance at herself for not paying attention – again.  
"Sorry, what did you order, dear?" Tifa asked with a curious smile set upon her face. Cloud returned the look and fluttered his own eye lashes, patronisingly.  
"I guess you'll have to find out." Tifa wryly smiled, but was slightly annoyed at herself even more now and more than a little annoyed at Cloud.  
"So, do you think we could be able to stay for around twenty minutes for a proper break?" Cloud moved his eyebrows in an expression of concern.  
"The question we should be asking is 'are we doing the right thing so far?'" Tifa sighed. She was annoyed at always thinking that question: she wanted to let it go and get on with her life, but she supposed they couldn't with such a crisis on their hands.  
"Cloud, if you didn't agree on this break you would have said something."  
"I'm not on about the break, Tifa," he stopped and smiled as a waiter passed him, who also smiled in return, "it's about us staying here and waiting for Cid." Tifa understood now.  
"Oh, right. Well, I presume we are: how can we find them anyway? We couldn't use your motorbike to drive into the sky and find him, and we don't have an airship of our own, so how could we have done?"  
Cloud took in all Tifa said and after a moments silence, gave one of his usual replies to things.  
"I don't know." They remained silent for a time until Tifa broke it.  
"Cloud," she said, placing a hand on his, "could we have a break about these questions? Isn't that why we're here?"  
"I guess." Cloud said, unconvincingly, but he did hold Tifa's hand back, who smiled as he did so.  
Just as they were doing this, the mysteriously, smartly dressed waiter returned to their table holding a silver tray, almost like a platter, with two china mugs, simply decorated.  
"Am I interrupting anything?" he asked them both. Cloud and Tifa's hands disconnected and they both stared at him in wonder.  
"No," they both said in unison, then looked between one another, smiling.  
"Your drinks have arrived, Sir, Madam." The waiter informed them, taking one of the mugs off and placing it in front of Tifa, and then doing the same for Cloud.  
"Well, this is certainly very nice."  
Tifa exclaimed as the waiter bowed and walked off once more. Then Tifa gulped.  
"Cloud," she said, leaning forwards, "how much do you think this is going to cost us?" Cloud thought she was worrying too much, but he assured her he would be able to pay the bill without hassle. Tifa nodded and examined her drink. She found, to her excitement, that it was a cup of coffee. She thanked Cloud for ordering it and took a sip.  
"Oh, this is wonderful!" She said. If she could melt, she probably would have done right there before the very eyes of Cloud.  
"That nice, huh?" he asked. Tifa opened her eyes once more and smiled hugely, nodding.  
A little while later, their little snack had arrived, carried by the waiter. He laid it down in front of them both and bowed, before walking off, silently. Cloud thanked him, but Tifa was more interested in the plate that she saw.  
"Cloud, you didn't have to!" she said. Cloud smiled at her and started tucking into his.  
Sitting on the plate in front of them both was Tifa's favourite food to have as a snack: fondue - a selection of fruits to dip into a small tub of melted chocolate. They always used to have it as children, but only on special occasions when they would sneak out of the house and secretly buy some for themselves.  
"Thank you, Cloud!" she said, dipping her fruit bits into the chocolate and eating it, greedily.  
"Remember when we used to do this almost every weekend? Even though you sneaked out and sneaked back in, your dad would always be waiting for you. He would always ask where you had been and why you had chocolate all over your face and fingers." Cloud chuckled slightly and continued eating.  
"Yeah, those sure were the days, huh?" Tifa managed through chews.  
"Tifa," Cloud asked after a moment of silence. He stared at her with the utmost concern, until she was concentrating on him.  
"Where do you think Cid is going to go to find us?" Tifa almost choked on one of her fruits, but she corrected herself and looked at Cloud again.  
"Cloud, can you please stop talking about it? It's going to be fine. We're going to go back to Seventh Heaven and then Cid will be there, or we'll have to wait for him to be there, but one thing's for certain: Cid will be there.  
"Okay, Cloud?" He reluctantly nodded and went back to his fondue.  
A little moment later, Cloud asked for Tifa's attention again.  
"Cloud, will you just leave it?!" there was no way that sentence was supposed to sound nice in any way. It was intended to stop Cloud from talking about Cid and how they were going to be picked up.  
"I was going to talk about . . . us," Tifa felt a huge wave of guilt overcome her entirely and tried to stop Cloud from raising his voice, "but I guess if you don't want to talk about it I can leave!" Cloud got up from his chair, looked at his unfinished coffee and fondue and then threw some money onto the table and walked off without glancing back.  
Tifa gulped. Now she really felt like everything was her fault. The waiter appeared again and asked, in his strange voice, "Is everything all right, madam?" Tifa rose from her chair, drained the last of her coffee and ran off after Cloud, tears filling her eyes.  
The waiter looked from her to the table with unfinished fondue.  
"Sometimes, I wonder why I even bother!"

Steam hissed and giant sprockets clicked and banged. The machinery was getting very, very hot and it needed severe cooling. If they didn't stop soon, then there was always the chance it would last for a bit longer, but that wasn't recommended.  
Sighing with annoyance, the man standing in the midst of all the steam and the hot air took one final look at the equipment before turning around, his feet sounding over the diamond-holed metal sheets. The man then walked out of the door which he had left open. He only thought he would take a quick look, but after three trips now, he realised this problem was serious. If anyone knew his airship it was him.  
He closed off the engine room and brushed himself down quickly. His blue jeans looked quite strange and even out of place here. Let alone his white t-shirt which looked even stranger. Then again, at a quick look, some might even say he looked like a technician. He wore a big orange fabric belt which seemed to be joined to his trousers. It was a definite difference which distinguished his top half from his bottom.  
The man stood with his hands on his waist for a moment, looking this way and that. His short golden hair waved slightly in its Mohican style and the smoke from his cigar he was chewing on drifted past his nostrils filling him with such a familiar scent, it was part of his natural inhale.  
A moment later, he turned around and started his was back towards the piloting room. Bad news, good news – what was it? If he said good, then it was because they would be landing very soon. But if he said bad, then it was because the engines _might_ not last a second trip if they didn't stop very soon. Then again, he could just hide the truth and just stretch it slightly.  
He reached a door at the end of a corridor and it automatically opened vertically. As he stepped inside, as predicted, a familiar face jumped down in front of him. Her mid-length hair wobbled slightly as she landed.  
"Well, how is it?" she asked, curious and almost childish at the same time. She was doubled over in a corner, clenching her stomach: she was severely air sick and couldn't stand being in an airship.  
The man didn't respond. He walked past the young woman to the other side of the room. He moved a co-pilot out of the way and tapped at the controls, showing no expression whatsoever.  
"Cid! Talk to me." The young woman called him. She got up onto her feet and walked after him.  
Cid stopped tapping at the controls and adjusted his cigar. He then tapped the co-pilot on the shoulder and walked up to his own controls. He stepped up a small flight of stairs and turned around as he got to his balcony-type platform. This was the best place to pilot the ship from because it overlooked the whole of the room.  
The most distinguishable feature of the room was the huge sheets of glass at the front where it curved into a semi-circle. On the outside of the airship, it just looked like a glass ball at the front, but on the inside, it curved outwards so there was more room for people to stand and stare at the passing surroundings.  
Cid could see the atmosphere and all the buildings in Midgar right now. His airship seemed to be getting lower and lower, but he presumed they could make it: wherever 'it' was.  
"Cid, talk to me!"  
"Yuffie! Stop buggin' me. I'd jus' like to get there if that's alrigh'."  
"But will we get there?" She moaned.  
"Oh, we'll get there, all righ'." There was something in Cid's tone of voice which Yuffie didn't find reassuring. The words about to leave her mouth were rejected in fear of the answer that would follow.  
_In one piece? _  
Cid looked out of the windscreen and speculated their altitude, their speed and where they were going. He called to both the co-pilots in the room and commanded them to go to the engine room. They went without hesitation and saluted hastily. Yuffie frowned at this.  
"Is there something you're not telling me?"  
"Nope," he said, his tone of voice unreadable. A few moments went by without them speaking, but Yuffie couldn't stand it any more.  
"So what are we actually doing?"  
"You know wha' we're doin'. We're getting' Cloud and Tifa, and then we're goin' to kick Herman's-"  
"Okay, I get the picture, Cid. But what are we planning? I mean there's only one airship and we don't have a whole fleet of them like last time. Is this plan safe? I mean, I'm sure there's an anti-air striking thing or something to stop airships from coming in. What if we get hit by one of those?  
"Hey, even if we don't get hit, who even says we'll survive? What if the landing site is so small that we can't land? What if we have to parachute out like last time and they shoot at us when we're coming down and they shoot at the ship and blow it up? But what if you place it just above an area that if they shoot it, it'll crash into something important of theirs?  
"How about Tifa and Cloud? What if something happens to them? Say they go first and they get killed. We have a choice to go in after them, or fly away. But what if we think they get killed and we fly away, and then they get angry at us and turn against us? Should we bring more people, or more airships or something? Do you have any more airships, or troops that you could use for our benefit? How can we solve this, Cid? We can't do it on our own."  
Yuffie said that with so much stamina, it was almost rehearsed. She was barely out of breath and the words just tumbled out of her like an endless case of verbal diarrhoea. Cid just ignored her and chewed on his cigar.  
As soon as Yuffie had finished prattling, the door behind Cid with a picture of the Lucky Lady on opened with a whoosh. There was a flash of red as a figure came out, followed by another and another.  
"Lass, you're not on your own." Came a very familiar voice, sounding somewhat northern. As the figures walked down the flight of stairs, they assembled in a row and said hello to Yuffie.  
"Hey, Cait Sith and Red XIII." She said looking them up and down. Cait Sith was a small white and black cat sat upon Red XIII. He had a tiny golden crown on his head and his forepaws were quite similar to that of a hand. Red XIII was an escaped experiment from Dr. Hojo's laboratory. He was a huge red lion and had a large tattoo on his side depicting his number "XIII". His mane was a deep red and came up from the bottom of his belly to the top of his neck. It carried a few feathers too which he had put there as symbols and tribal rituals.  
Yuffie looked beside these two and saw two more familiar faces.  
"Hey, Vincent!" she said, shaking his hand and smiling who smiled in return. "And Barret!" she said, who tapped her shoulder with a firm hand. Barret was a black man who had lost half his arm due to an accident with his friend. He was trying to save him from Shinra soldiers, but they shot at their hands and Barret's friend had fallen down the cliff, presumably plummeting to his death. It was only later on that they all found out that he was alive and well, but angry at them, so, due to certain circumstances, they had to fight and kill him.  
Barret's hand had been replaced with a robotic one which could change into a lot of useful tools. At the moment, it was a hand, and he embraced Yuffie in a hug, crushing her with affection.  
"Thank . . . you." Yuffie managed through the tight embrace. If Barret hadn't done that, then maybe she would have thrown up from the movement of the vehicle.  
Letting her go, Barret smiled and spoke in his booming voice.  
"Alright! Now we have a team. So, Cid, when are we gonna land? We've discussed the plan and-" Yuffie cut him off.  
"Wait! You've discussed a plan without me?! How am I supposed to know what to do without being informed?" Cait Sith slapped a hand on his forehead.  
"Las, you only found out we were on the ship not two minutes ago!"  
"And how long have I been here?" she asked, hand pressed to her mouth to stop any outburst of gastric juices.  
"We don't know," Red XIII said in his deep, understandable voice "we didn't know you were on the ship until now."  
"Damn it! Can' we jus' shut up until we ge' there?" Cid shouted over their racket. Everyone was about to protest, but they remained silent.  
Barret walked over to one of the co-pilots and observed his work, Vincent followed Red XIII and Cait Sith to the observational area and Yuffie retreated to her corner, doubled over.

Rufus had filled in all of his paperwork and Herman had accepted it and filed it accordingly. She then phoned someone up on her desk phone and ordered them to take Rufus round to where he pleased. After a short while of waiting, a kind woman appeared and saluted Dr. Herman before wheeling Rufus off to his first area which he wanted to see: one of the testing areas.  
They had to pass through various cleaning rooms to ensure no bacteria could possibly cause any harm to their tests. There were big, glass windows covering areas which Rufus was more interested in now than he had been before.  
"Is that a . . ." the young woman looked the way he was pointing and explained.  
"Oh, yes that's a battle arena. We test our beasts that we create and, if needs be, we inject them with Mako energy to make them stronger. You can see a variety of different specimens later on as we walk past." Rufus was astounded. He only thought that the Herman Energy Project only created harnessed energy which people used in their homes all over the world.  
Something jolted inside Rufus.  
"So you mean those minions of Herman's, they're actually . . ." Rufus stopped. It was too horrible to say. The woman noticed this and explained.

"Just like Shinra Inc. had its share of SOLDIERs, the Herman Energy Project had a group of warriors who were volunteers in an experiment to boost their strength. They were injected with Mako energy and they were stored in a facility for ten years, soaking in Mako. This would usually kill ordinary people, but as we injected them with Mako first, they were able to sustain their body enough to prevent Mako poisoning.

"Now, it was a similar process to that of Shinra, but this was over a longer period of time. When they went to be retrieved, they were no longer the people who they were: their skin had hardened, their minds destroyed. They were literally an empty shell. Their minds were quite useful being destroyed so they could be easily manipulated, so Herman went with the plan and created her army of warriors. They have a special name, just like your SOLDIERs did. But these are of a more fearful nature. These men are called COMMANDERs."  
Rufus listened with a keen interest. This was really quite fascinating. A thought lingered in his head, however. _She said 'just like my SOLDIERs _did_, but obviously they don't know about Cloud. _Rufus decided to keep this to himself, just in case it would have endangered Cloud's safety.  
They moved on, all the while seeing strange beasts and COMMANDERs fighting them. Rufus frowned. He didn't see why they would fight the beasts they created with the beings which were clearly their strongest, so he asked.  
"Well," said the woman, almost unsure whether she had said enough already. Rufus narrowed his eyes.  
"I'm working for you now. I should know about everything before I begin in the section which I like, right?" the woman nodded in agreement.  
"The idea is not to train the COMMANDERs, because there's no point in doing that when they don't need any practice. The idea of fighting the beasts is to test their strength. If the beasts are strong enough and can battle against the COMMANDERs without getting much harm to them, then they instantly get promoted to the next area: the barracks.  
"In the barracks, the beasts get equipped with whatever they need to. This could include another injection of Mako energy, or even an advanced growth in their height and muscles. The whole idea of this is to get them prepared for battle so then a whole army is created and ready if the occasion calls for it." The woman said this with such a smug and almost passionate tone that Rufus could vaguely see a strong sense of foreboding from her.  
They moved on, Rufus wheeled past more and more areas of the testing projects before they finally stopped before a certain laboratory which was full of scientists. Every piece of equipment imaginable was present and all manner of scientists were also there. Rufus thought that if it wasn't for Dr. Herman doing some paperwork in her office, she'd be in there ordering people around and researching and testing and the like. The woman wheeling Rufus around looked very pleased, so Rufus decided she was going to tell him something they were very proud of.  
"Here we have one of our many laboratories which Dr. Herman herself visits occasionally. We are working on a certain project which we like to call 'Project S.' Now, as you may be aware, there was a certain being who was all powerful and has been taken away from this world too many times to keep count of.  
"This is all going to change. We are researching into the rejuvenation of Project S and we are making him stronger, harder and unstoppable. Thus we should take over those who oppose us, and if not, then the whole world for all we care. The Herman Energy Project is going to be the only and the best energy way in the world. With all the power we have, we can make a new world. Once the life has been sucked out of this planet, we should move to another one of our own and follow the constant cycle through all eternity creating an endless life of humans and beasts.  
"Of course, that's not going to happen for quite a while yet, but at least we've got something to look forward to." Once she had finished, Rufus was feeling an icy chill creep through his body. There was only one question on his mind, and he already knew the answer to it. It was some time before he worded the query, however.  
"Sorry, but what does the S stand for in Project S?" as the woman answered him, the icy chill quadrupled and he realised they had to work fast in order to complete their mission before it was too late. The woman had said the one thing which could only invoke so much fear into anybody at all: "Sephiroth."


	13. Chapter 12

It was some time until Tifa managed to find Cloud. She had chassed him all the way from the café and didn't stop until she had jumped onto his back and pulled him down to the ground in an affectionate hug.  
"Cloud, I'm sorry. You know I'm sorry. I didn't mean it to come out like that." For the amount of words that she said, none could soothe the roaring inferno of emotions that were spiralling inside Cloud. He got up, Tifa still holding onto him like a monkey with its mother.  
Cloud didn't say anything, but trudged onwards. Tifa tried to pull him down, but her attempts were all in vain. She still clung on, helplessly. It seemed as though Cloud didn't want to speak at all. Tifa's little outburst must have had quite an affect on him.  
"Cloud, please talk to me. I'm sorry, you know I am. I didn't think you'd talk about us like that."  
"So I'm not good enough am I?" Cloud suddenly burst. Tifa almost choked.  
"I never said that! Cloud, please see the sense in this."  
At that moment, before he was going to reply, a blast of a noise echoed above them. Looking up, they both saw a beam of light shine into their eyes, blurring their vision completely. The object was getting lower and lower, but not before staying at that height, perhaps checking the people who the spotlight was on.  
Variations of other noises emitted from the object as it sank lower and lower, slowing down all the way. A great sound resounded above the rest as a few metal legs were mechanically moved into place, ready for the landing position.  
The beam of light was shut off as the object touched down onto the remains of Seventh Heaven. Tifa gasped and Cloud remained in his erect position. His face still showed his enigmatic expression, however.  
Their eyes were adjusting, but there was still a big spot from where the bright light had blinded them.  
"Looks like they arrived quicker than I anticipated." Cloud said. Tifa almost asked who he was on about, but soon realised.  
The airship stopped all movement altogether and it seemed as though the engine had halted for some reason. The movement to the landing seemed to be all to perfect for them to have stopped the engine so suddenly. Maybe it was because the engine was having trouble of some sort and it had cut out. Needless to say, it was here, right where they needed it to be.  
Both Cloud and Tifa stood there for a while. It was only after a few minutes of silence that a great hissing noise emitted and a large door opened with hydraulics. Another bright light shone out into both of their faces and as several silhouettes came into view from the light, they started walking forwards. About four men hurried past them – obviously some task was of an urgent matter. One man still remained behind however.  
"Cloud! Tifa! Goddamn it's good to see ya!" A familiar voice boomed at them as they walked towards the opened door, making a smile curve its way into existence upon their faces.  
"Cid," Tifa called, briskly walking forwards to embrace him in a hug. Cloud followed Tifa up the runway where she was now releasing the Pilot. He gave a firm handshake and smiled slightly, his mood lightening somewhat.  
"Hey, it's good to see ya! Why don' ya come on in? This way." Cid said to them, almost in a commanding voice, but it was also soothing and friendly. "Oh, and min' ya head." He called behind him as Cloud, following Tifa, banged his on the doorway.

"Right, everyone got the plan?" Tseng asked after a long discussion.  
"Yes, but why did we have to go over it again? It's my brilliant idea anyway." Reno informed him, light-heartedly. Elena sighed as she turned away from them both and continued to pilot towards Dr. Herman's base.  
Rude just let them argue. He never really saw a point with joining in their arguments because it would always end in violence somehow. Anyway, he had to be ready to stop the violence; basically, grab Reno's collar before he could do anything.  
"Look, let's just stop, alright?" Tseng concluded.  
"Oh, chickening out, are we? Typical Tseng, eh?"  
"Reno, look: we'll be upon Herman's base anytime soon. If this 'perfect plan' of yours is going to be of any use, then we'll have to be ready. Understood?"  
"Excuses, excuses. You've always got something to say, haven't you, Tseng?"  
Elena sighed again, and checked the radar. Her eyes bulged, but she didn't show any alarm.  
"Tseng, we'd better start getting ready." She said, cool, calm and collectedly.  
"Yes, Elena. That's what I just said."  
"No, we should _really _start getting ready. Look." This time she was pointing at the radar and tapping with an inquisitive finger. Tseng came over to look and swore, loudly. On the radar with their airship in the middle, there were six red dots heading towards them from ahead. Missiles.  
"What is it?" Rude asked, standing up. Tseng turned around and addressed Reno and Rude.  
"Get ready. NOW! There are missiles heading straight for us! Level One state of emergency. Act now!"  
If the situation weren't so grave, Reno would have called Tseng's face a picture. He was the first to zip out of the room, followed by Rude, who was rushing around so frantically, he almost didn't know what to do.  
"Elena," Tseng said as he walked towards the door. She looked round at him. "I'm counting on you." Elena nodded and got a more comfortable position in her seat. She knew that all of their lives now hung on her piloting skill.  
A minute passed, and still the missiles were heading towards them. A sense of fear crept its way up Elena. Her hands were sweating. She knew that any minute now they would come round the corner and have to be prepared for anything. She checked the radar again. Six red dots still, the distance closing in every second of the way.  
_Keep calm._ Elena's mind told her. _We'll get through this. You're the best pilot._ Her eyelids began to itch, but she daren't blink, not even once. The fear was still hanging in the room like a stagnant, stubborn smell. Fully aware of the situation. Just waiting for her to lose her calmness.  
She checked the radar for a third time. Their positioning had not moved, but their speed was now increasing. Faster and faster. Now the fear welled up inside her. _Keep calm! Don't do silly things now._  
Heart racing, Elena panicked. With urgency, she pressed onwards and darted over the next cliff top.  
"AAARRRGGHHH!" Something clicked in her mind and she suddenly realised what she was doing. Sure she could now see the missiles, but she knew a wrong move could be fatal for them all.  
As the missiles hurtled onwards, growing bigger and bigger, Elena's sight entered slow-motion. The world throbbed before her. The controls as sensitive as anything. All she had to do was evade the missiles for so long. Behind the missiles was Herman's base. Huge walls stood before it and the challenge before that. Elena breathed in and tightened her grip on the controls. Electronic impulses jolted to her hands.  
She threw the airship down suddenly and span, not daring to stop. All six missiles followed, as quick and nimble as the next one. Pulling up, Elena swooped round a rock face and zoomed along. An eruption then came from behind.  
"One!" Elena said, throwing the controls up this time and swirling as she did so. The remaining missiles were getting closer this time. She had to be quick in order to keep their lives.  
She did a barrel roll and sped onwards towards another rock face. She knew that if she could out-manoeuvre the missiles, she'd be able to get rid of them, and quickly.  
Out of the corner of her eye, she saw a narrow gap. Narrow enough for her to pilot through, but also narrow enough to get in the way of the less agile missiles.  
She lunged the ship in that direction and flew through, pulling to the right, hard, on the controllers. As she did so, the ship just managed to catch on the rock face, slowing her down a fraction.  
"COME ON!" She screamed, forcing the airship forwards again. The missiles were quick to follow, but another explosion emitted. Elena checked the radar, hastily.  
"Two!" She said, curving the ship round and following a quick series of narrow cliffs, weaving in and out. She now knew how poor the missiles actually were in accordance to her agility and speed. Keeping the same strategy would ensure she wouldn't risk receiving a hit. Another explosion resounded, and another.  
"Three!" She said. "FOUR!" She boomed. Not long to go now until they were out of the immediate danger.  
A beeping noise turned Elena's attention to the radar. It was flashing red. Her heart stopped. One of the missiles had gone way above her, off course, and managed to hit loose rocks, causing a vast avalanche.  
"SHIT!" She cried. There was no way she could pilot out of it. She had never been so good at this sort of thing. But even so, she had to try.  
Swooping, diving, rolling, zooming, spinning and manoeuvring the airship, she avoided rocks after rocks. One missile got close enough to hit, but luckily, part of the avalanche collided with its path before it could.  
"FIVE!" Elena shouted. The airship rocked slightly. Rocks were hitting the hull. She checked the radar. The missile was getting closer and closer. Her eyes bulged as she saw it avoiding all of the rocks.  
Elena looked up and saw boulders triple the size of the airship come crashing down in front of her. If she timed it right, she'd be able to get out and the missile would just catch the rocks.  
The ship lurched as more rocks collided with it. If this kept going, there wouldn't be a ship to fly anymore. The roof would give way and they'd all be crushed to death. Elena's hands slipped on the controllers. She cursed the sweat, but swirled forwards with her heart racing like wildfire. If this timing was wrong, they'd be dead anyway.  
Seconds turned into minutes. The missile crept closer and closer. The boulders fell faster and faster. Adrenaline pumped.  
A loud crash echoed throughout the cliffs. This was followed by an explosion.  
"Six." Elena said, in realisation. Lights flashed. Beeps emitted. Warnings echoed. They'd been hit.

Rufus felt tired. He shook himself to stop sleep from taking him. Knowing full well what he had to do, his first step was to lose his 'assistant'. They were heading to a laboratory next, so it'd be easy for him to lose her. He thought for a moment before lifting his head to speak to the woman.  
"Where exactly is this laboratory we're going to now?" She almost jumped when he spoke, but as she was concentrating on something in her mind so much, she almost didn't hear him at all.  
"The laboratory? I do believe it is just around the corner from this testing area." The woman then wheeled him onwards, through the doors of the decontamination room.  
"And the office afterwards?"  
"On the other end of the facility. If we're quick, we might be able to make it there before we have to immerse ourselves into battle." Rufus frowned.  
"Battle?" he asked, inquisitively. The woman blinked.  
"Oh yes. Haven't you heard? We've been told to continue our work for as long as possible until the Terks come."  
"Don't you mean _Turks?_" Rufus asked, silently giggling on the inside.  
"Oh, so you have heard of them. That's wonderful. It does save me a bit of time then." The woman sounded delighted; a smile confirmed it. Rufus still looked confused.  
"So why are the Turks going to battle us?" The woman's expression dropped. She thought the matter had ended already.  
"Well, we've been told they're after Dr. Herman's head, and we should keep a good look-out for them if – _if_ – they enter the premises."  
Rufus smiled at this. Her ignorance was dumbfounding. How could she have heard about the Turks and not realised their connection to Rufus? How could she not suspect that they were coming in to save Rufus? Well, this was quite a stoke of luck on his part. Also, as the office she was intending to go to was on the other end of the facility, that would give Rufus time to get to Herman's office which was located around this end. All he had to do was play it cool; exactly what he intended all along.  
"So what is this office like then?" Rufus asked, planting the first seed of thought within the woman. She smiled, sideways and continued onwards.  
"Well, it's not really much compared to this laboratory we're going to. I mean, it's all very well reading about all of these scientific occurrences, but actually being in the midst of it all is just so enthralling." She gave a sigh of passion as she finished, but Rufus simply ignored this.  
"Well, I prefer nothing more than to spend my time _wisely _in an office, surrounded by books - the passing light from the windows; the almost silence, save a small tick-tock of a clock and the gradual realisation that you have to give in and go to sleep at the end of a long, excessive day." Rufus sad this with such enthusiasm that he was almost believing it himself. He just hoped the woman leading him would actually understand where he was getting at.  
"Well, I'm afraid you shall have to wait. A schedule is a schedule after all."  
And with that, Rufus was wheeled around the corner to the vast doors of a laboratory.

They entered a large room with a colourful ceiling. It seemed to change colour and even show different scenes depicting aerial views. Along the edge of the room were many short benches. Crew members, wearing the same, dull uniform, sat at different points, immersed in conversation. As Cid, Tifa and Cloud moved further in, Tifa noticed a familiar figure sitting on one of the benches.  
"Hey, Yuffie. What are you doing out here?" She asked as she walked over. Yuffie had her legs folded up and held to her with use of her arms. She raised her head from her knees and stared at Tifa in the face. She didn't need to answer for them to realise. Cloud, his mood brightening because of the introduction to his old friends, acknowledged Yuffie's situation.  
"Back when I was in Shinra, I'd get some fresh air." He told her.  
"When we weren't moving, I'd go outside for a bit. Then, before too long, I'd come back to make sure they wouldn't leave without me." Yuffie didn't say anything, so Cid decided to speak up to make her move.  
"God darn i', Yuffie! If yer gonna be sick, then go already! I don' wan' a mess in here!" Yuffie stood up, her face suddenly pale. She stormed out of the exit, still open, with a hand over her mouth.  
"_CID!_" Tifa said, accusingly. He looked at her, innocently.  
"She'll be fine! We're leavin' the doors open until la'er anyway. We need to fuel her up ASAP!" Cloud thought for a moment, until he realised that he'd never seen this room before. Then again, the whole ship did feel different in some way.  
"This isn't _The_ _Highwind_." Cloud noted, as Cid turned to face him.  
"It sure isn'. This is _The_ _Shera. _She's a beau' ain' she? We've kept her since our last expedition and fixed her up a bi'. Always reminding me of ma wife."  
"Oh, that's right," Tifa recalled. "We were with Barret in a transport vehicle below."  
"And I went out on Fenrir." Cloud said, smiling slightly. "Speaking of which, I still need to fetch." He turned to Cid, asking if there was a place for him to keep Fenrir inside.  
"Sure, if ya ride i' in, ya can pu' i' in the operation room. We're just goin' in i' now." Tifa seemed impressed by all this. It seemed just like old times; an operation room in a fancy airship and a great crew as well.  
"I'll wait for you here, Cloud." She told him as he walked out the door. Cloud was going to turn back, but then he realised he was still annoyed with her. A pang of guilt erupted inside him, but he simply kept walking. He could settle things with Tifa later. After all, wasn't forgiveness a major part of a relationship?  
Cloud went down the ramp and into the now cold and bitterness remains of Seventh Heaven. A soft wind blew past and continued as he walked on, blowing his spiky hair in a series of uninterrupted wisps. The breeze was calming and also soothing to his warm skin. If he had time, Cloud would liked to have rested out here for a bit, soaking in the wonderful environment.  
His thoughts were concentrating on one thing and one thing alone: Tifa. He now felt really bad about what he did. Maybe he should apologise to her when he came back in. Yes, that's what he'd do. Cloud then walked to where he'd parked Fenrir. There he was with all his glory, valour and dexterity.  
"I love your bike," came a voice from nearby. Cloud looked to his side and found Yuffie standing and observing it from a distance, almost as if she were scared of it. "Fenrir, isn't it?" She asked. Cloud nodded. "He was a devastating beast! I'd always hear stories about his destruction and rapid growth. We were all told of him to keep us in line, well I thought so anyway. Maybe it's just like the stories of Leviathan. Protecting our village, when he actually was. I can't believe I didn't believe it when I should have done." At this point, Yuffie, hung her head in shame. Cloud had no idea what to do or what to say. He supposed he could just wait until she had finished.  
"Maybe Fenrir will rise up and take revenge on the people. Oh, Cloud I'm scared." Yuffie ran up to him and clung onto him.  
"Um, Yuffie?" Cloud hesitantly said. Now he was worried about her.  
"Cloud, will we be alright? I mean, what if we get there and they release Fenrir on us?" Yuffie whimpered as she said the name. Cloud thought this was going a bit too far now.  
"Yuffie, what if _we_ set it upon _them_ when we get there? That way, we'll all be safe from harm." Yuffie released Cloud from her grip.  
"Hey, you know what? You're right! We have nothing to worry about. Not with Fenrir on our side!" Cloud decided to not say anything else on that topic. He presumed if he did, it would make her feel bad again. At that point, four men carrying huge containers of dark fluid marched past them and into _The Shera. _Cloud presumed they were the ones from earlier.  
"So, you're feeling better now then?" Yuffie smiled and nodded.  
"A shinobi always feels calm in any situation."  
"Really?" Cloud asked. She nodded once more, unconvincingly. "Well, if I told you we're about to be briefed in the operation room, what would you say?" Yuffie's smile disappeared.  
"What? We're missing it. We'd better get there, quickly!" Cloud chuckled slightly as he mounted Fenrir and started the engine.  
"Come on," he said. Yuffie hesitated before jumping behind Cloud onto the bike. She clutched onto his stomach and buried her head in his back. Cloud revved his engine and drove back to _The Shera_, rubble moving and wind billowing all the way.  
Upon their entry, a crew member closed the doors behind them. He then saluted Cloud before saying something about 'Captain's Orders'.  
Tifa was standing nearby and eyed Yuffie with concern. She dismissed this thought when Cloud smiled at her and beckoned her to join. Tifa sat behind Yuffie and clung onto the back of the bike.  
"Cid's already gone to start up the engine," Tifa said. "He told us to go straight to the operation room." Cloud noted this and proceeded slowly. If he went any faster, he'd probably nock everyone over.  
As they passed more crew members, they received strange looks, but Cloud simply ignored this. They turned two corners and Tifa told them the operation room was just there – the large door on the right.  
"Cid said I could put Fenrir in here, right?" Cloud asked as Tifa dismounted and walked over to the control panel on the side of the door, before pressing in a few digits.  
"I think so," Tifa confirmed as the large door opened; half of it ascending and half descending. As Cloud turned off the engine and told Yuffie to get off, they started walking into the operation room.  
Cloud walked Fenrir behind Yuffie and Tifa. The operation room was quite similar to that on _The Highwind_, but of a more impressionable atmosphere. A large, white table stood in the centre of the room, surrounded by many comfortable seats; many of which were filled already. A smile formed on Cloud's lips as he was greeted.  
Vincent, Red XIII, Cait Sith and Barret were here already. They were, presumably, immersed in conversation before Cloud, Yuffie and Tifa arrived. It couldn't have been that important if they weren't all here.  
"Grab a seat. Cid told us to hang on until he got the airship up and running." Cait Sith informed them. Yuffie and Tifa did so, while Cloud wheeled his bike to one side of the room. Not long after he did this, the great vessel started to move.  
"It's good to see you all again." Cloud said, grinning like an excited child.  
"Yeah. Long time, no see!" Barret boomed.  
"How have the years been for you, Cloud?" Red XIII asked as he sat down next to Tifa.  
"They've been great. And for you? How's Bugenhagen?" Red was silent for a moment.  
"He's returned to the Lifestream." Tifa gasped, and Cloud's expression dropped.  
"I'm sorry to hear that." Cloud returned.  
"Cloud, I'm afraid I gave you some misinformation." Vincent's deep voice cut in. Cloud looked up, curious. "I told you someone would come to your service and request you send a package for a large sum of Gil. I'm afraid I was misinformed. In actuality, someone was after the piece from you and was going to steal-"  
"They already have," Tifa injected. Everyone turned to face her. Tifa's tone of voice was serious and everyone knew something important was going to follow.  
"They came for it alright. My crate."  
"What was in it?" Yuffie asked? "Materia?"  
"Let her finish!" Red said. Tifa looked up briefly before looking back down to the table again. She always found it hard to open herself up to people.  
"My Martial Arts master, Zangan, went on a journey some years previously. He was getting old and he told me it was going to be his final task before retiring." Tifa stopped, almost uncertain whether to continue or not. Cloud was beginning to be intrigued by this. He had never known what was in Tifa's crate. Red XIII waited, before pressing a nose to her arm as a sign of acknowledgment. "Zangan told me that there were Sephiroth Copies, or Clones that needed storing. He said that they ought to be rounded up and kept under constant vigilance. This is all going back a few years now, but does everyone remember those half-dead cloaked figures that were dotted around the world? We met quite a few in Nibelheim." Everyone nodded their heads in agreement.  
"I only remember seeing one of them." Cait Sith told her. "But even so, that was scary enough as it is."  
"This was all linked to Sephiroth, which is why they stole it off you?"  
"Hang on, she's not finished!" Barret boomed at Vincent. Tifa then continued.  
"Anyway, Zangan rounded them all up and sealed them within a special crate. Even though they were half-dead, the crate would ensure life would remain within them. He did all this because he was sure that one day they would have to be used for the good of humankind. And then he warned me. He told me that they could also be used for . . . the reincarnation of Sephiroth." Everyone gasped. Cloud's heart stopped. Vincent was the only one to not show any emotion about all this.  
"And now they've got the Sephiroth Clones?" Cait asked. Tifa nodded.  
"Zangan sealed the crate and bestowed it upon me. He told me that I was to be the guardian of the crate and should let no one else open it. If they did, then they would escape, and seek out another Jenova reunion. This, in turn, would inevitably awaken Sephiroth." Cloud didn't know what to say. His mind was racing. Now the enemy had the crate and could have already opened it. Sephiroth could already be revived now; fully awake, and seeking their presence.  
Everybody felt the seriousness of the situation immediately. They realised that they had to get this crate back, and fast. If not, then the whole world would face instant danger.  
The door to the operation room opened a few minutes later.  
"All righ' everybody. Wha' I miss?" Cid said, smiling as he entered. He frowned as no one else was smiling, so he took a seat. As soon as he was filled in with what had already been told, his jaw dropped, and his cigar fell to the floor.

"We're going down! WE'RE GOING DOWN!" Reno shouted as he lunged himself into the room, waving his arms in such a fashion that would normally put someone into flight.  
"I KNOW!" Elena shouted back at him, pulling hard on the controls.  
The missile had just missed the boulders and struck them from behind in the engine somewhere. She had misjudged the distance, the time and the gap, much to everyone's misfortune.  
"We'll have to take her down into Herman's base." Tseng was speculating as he, too, walked into the room, though in a more calm fashion than Reno.  
The airship was being very awkward to manoeuvre, but what could be expected from being hit in the engines? The missile must have hit a vital area, making the fuel leak out as well. Now they only had a limited time in the air left before gravity took its natural toll on things.  
Rude hastily walked into the room with much the same expression as he always wore. He took one look out the front and then left again.  
"I think I'll do the same," Reno said, following Rude's footsteps.  
Before he went out the room he turned his head round and said, "if you need me, I'll be having my last drink in the bar." Elena and Tseng ignored him, like most of the other times and concentrated on the impending dangers.  
Herman's base crept closer and closer. Much faster than when they were normally flying, but back then they weren't falling.  
"No alarms are going off, so it seems as though they thought the missiles would have gotten rid of us." Tseng noted.  
"So what do I do?" Elena asked him, desperately. The tall walls, topped with barbed wire were drawing closer, and behind them the huge field in the centre of Herman's enormous base. They were falling now, faster and faster than before. If they didn't choose their actions quickly, then they were sure to be killed.  
"Get close to a wall. Somewhere we can use our equipment to dig ourselves in." Elena noted all this and thought quickly before wording it.  
"Tseng, what if they fire more missiles at us?" He calculated this, but before he could give a good enough answer, the warning signs flashed again. Tseng grabbed Elena out of her seat and pushed her out of the room, too quick enough to notice the missiles come rushing forwards.  
Six missiles headed their way once more. The airship came forward and further down, unable to evade them. Moments later, they met and six more explosions resounded within the base creating a great pattern of sparks and dark clouds, ever rising to join the huge, collecting mass of blackening cloud in the sky. Flames burst into life and erupted; a wave of heat took over and together with the air, grew heavy.  
As the airship came crashing to the ground in a colossal conflagration, the heavens opened and engulfed the world like a vast globule of clear marshmallow. The flames were fuelled by the oil from the engine, resulting in an immunity to the onslaught from the rain.  
A deep sound rumbled from the dark sky. More and more rain fell onto the base and collided with the windows. Dr. Herman witnessed the crash from one of her many windows in her office and a smile contorted into existence on her aged face.


End file.
